This is a page dedicated to the wild horses that are left around the United States. There will be information on call in days, updated information on situations that come through, and any other wild horse related information.

Carson City, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
Carson City District, has issued the Decision Records for the Final
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Pine Nut and Pilot Mountain Wild Horse
Gather Plans. Fertility control will be used on the Pine Nut and Pilot
Mountain gathers to slow population growth to reduce the need for future
gathers.

The Pine Nut HMA is located five miles east of Carson
City, Nevada. The decision is for the BLM to gather approximately 118 wild
horses from within the Pine Nut HMA, vaccinate approximately 45 of the mares
with a two year fertility control vaccine, and then release all 118 horses
(including the 45 treated mares) back into the HMA. Approximately 67
additional wild horses are residing well outside the HMA (up to 12 miles
away), often congregating on private property in the Fish Springs (Douglas
County) area, creating a public safety hazard on roads and damaging private
property.
These 67 excess wild horses will be gathered and removed. The gather is
tentatively scheduled to begin mid-November 2010, and will last about one
week.
The Pilot Mountain HMA is located approximately 25 miles east of Hawthorne,
Nevada. The decision is for the BLM to gather approximately 242 wild horses
from within the Pilot Mountain HMA, remove approximately 53 excess wild
horses, vaccinate approximately 76 of the mares with a two year fertility
control vaccine, and then release 189 horses (including the 76 treated
mares) back into the HMA. Approximately 104 additional wild horses are
residing well outside the HMA, often congregating on and along highway U.S.
95 near Walker Lake, Nevada, creating a serious public safety hazard.
In February - March 2010 at least seven wild horses were killed in vehicle
accidents. These 104 excess wild horses will be gathered and removed. The
gather is tentatively scheduled to begin in late-November 2010.
Treating selected mares with a two year fertility control vaccine on the
Pine Nut and Pilot Mountain HMA gathers will assist in maintaining the
Appropriate Management Level (AML) of horses and reduce the number of excess
wild horses that would need to be removed in the future. The utilization of
the PZP-22 vaccine will help reduce population growth and assist in
maintaining a population size within the AML.
The gathers are needed to achieve the Appropriate Management Level (AML) in
order to maintain a thriving natural ecological balance for the remaining
wild horse population, wildlife, permitted livestock and vegetation within
each HMA. The AMLs were established upon completion of an in-depth analysis
of habitat suitability, resource monitoring and population inventory data.
The upper limit of the AML range is the maximum number of wild horses that
can be maintained within an HMA while maintaining a thriving natural
ecological balance and multiple use relationship on the public lands.
Establishing the AMLs within a population range allows for the periodic
removal of excess animals (to the low end) and subsequent population growth
(to the maximum level) between removals. Development of the Herd Management
Area Plans (HMAP) for both HMAs included public involvement.
The BLM will use helicopters to gather the wild horses and will transport
the animals by motorized vehicles. The use of helicopters, which is
authorized by the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, has proven
to be the safest and most practical means for gathering excess wild horses.
The BLM coordinates closely with the Nevada Department of Agriculture’s
(NDOA) Brands Division to provide Brand Inspectors during wild horse removal
efforts across the State. NDOA brand inspectors must verify the animals are
excess wild horses and burros as defined by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and
Burros Act of 1971. Once verified, the Brand Inspector will provide the BLM
a certificate to transport the animals. Without this cooperation and
coordination, the BLM would not be able to remove the excess wild horses and
burros which, if not removed in a timely manner, would result in degradation
of our native rangelands. The NDOA also may take jurisdiction of any
estray, branded or abandoned domestic
horse(s) under the State of Nevada estray laws.

Wild horses removed from the range will be offered for
adoption to qualified individuals through the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro
Adoption Program. Un-adopted horses will be placed in long-term pastures
where they will be humanely cared for and will retain their “wild” status
and protection under the 1971 law. The BLM does not sell or send any horses
to slaughter.
The gather and impacts are described and analyzed in the Pine Nut, Pilot
Mountain & Clan Alpine HMA Gather Plan Final EA. The EA, separate Decision
Records for each specific gather, associated documents, maps and other
information about the Pine Nut and Pilot Mountain HMAs are posted on the
BLM Carson City website at
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/carson_city_field.html. A Decision
Record
has not yet been signed for the Clan Alpine HMA gather that is tentatively
scheduled for February 2011.
The BLM also will provide updates and information at the same web address on
a regular basis throughout the course of each gather.
For more information, please call (775) 885-6000, for Coreen Francis,
Supervisory Natural Resource Specialist for the Stillwater Field Office
(Pilot Mountain HMA gather), or Alan Bittner, Supervisory Natural Resource
Specialist for the Sierra Front Field Office (Pine Nut HMA gather).
-BLM-

BLM Reschedules Advisory Council MeetingReno, Nev. — The Bureau of Land Management has rescheduled the
Resource Advisory Council originally scheduled to be held in Reno on
November 4-5, 2010, until early 2011. Once finalized, the new meeting date
will be published in the Federal Register and posted on BLM Nevada web site
at
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en.html.-BLM-

Aerial Survey Verifies Wild/Feral Horse PopulationsBased upon data from an aerial population survey conducted in June
2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (FWS) have determined approximately 3,057 wild horses remain on the
BLM-managed public lands in northwest Nevada, northeast California and south
central Oregon and approximately 1,258 feral horses and burros remain on FWS-managed
lands within the Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
The population survey methodology was developed by the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) with the assistance of BLM wild horse specialists.
The methodology incorporates peer-reviewed techniques that have been used
for decades to estimate wildlife populations around the world.
The final report, which contains specific population counts for each
surveyed area, is available on the web at:http://www.blm.gov/nv/.
Associated news releases and documents available also include the
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the BLM and FWS, which will
further improve management of wild horses and burros on BLM and FWS-managed
lands within this region. In early September, the BLM and FWS signed an agreement designed to
better coordinate the management of wild horses in a region covering
northwest Nevada, northeast California and south-central Oregon. The
agreement calls for BLM offices in the three states and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to improve how they count the animals and to share the
information. However, the recent feral horse gather on the Sheldon National
Wildlife Refuge was conducted exclusively by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.-BLM-

Good News for MoundHouse Horses!

>> As of today the large, flashing electrical warnings
signs for wild horses

>> are back up in the Mound House - Centenial Park
area! Good job

>> everyone! Dorothy

> AS OF TODAY, THE LARGE, FLASHING ELECTRICAL WARNING
SIGNS FOR WILD HORSES

> ARE BACK UP IN THE MOUND HOUSE - CENTENNIAL PARK
AREA. GOOD JOB EVERYONE,

> ESPECIALLY FOR ALL THE PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS YOU
SENT TO GOV AND NDOT!!!!

Distemper outbreak kills wild horses at Herriman center

Federal wild-horse managers are suspending adoptions
from their Herriman center and placing a quarantine on about 500 horses
because of an equine-distemper outbreak.

Eleven horses have died — some on their own and some
from euthanasia after being badly stricken — and two or three dozen more
show signs of the upper-respiratory infection, said Gus Warr, head of the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Utah wild-horse and burro program.

In a response filed in a Nevada court on October 14th
the Bureau Of Land Management (BLM) revealed that “herd management areas”
and perhaps other areas of public lands at their unilateral choosing can, be
considered by the government “non-public forums.”

This is interesting news to the rest of us who have
considered these lands public, open and freely accessible. It would seem,
according to Ken Salazar, Bob Abbey and those they lead at the Department of
Interior and BLM, the we, the press, and by extension, you the public have
no have no right to know how the government manages your public resources.

The government is controlling the content of the
information that reaches you, the public, by prohibiting journalists who may
portray them in an unflattering light.

Our interest at this moment is wild horses on public
lands. Next year it might be gas pipelines, uranium mining, or nuclear waste
storage. The public has a right to know. The government behaves when
citizens are watching.

They know that. They know that. They know that.

That is why Ken Salazar and Bob Abbey are fighting in
court to prevent public access.

Shame on Ken Salazar.

Shame on Bob Abbey.

Shame on the agencies doing their dirty work hidden
from the light of the public eye.

You cannot tear down such a national monument and not
be remembered Ken and Bob. We shall not forget you; and, history shall not
forget both of your hideous rolls in this.

In the Spotlite:

Take action for VA Range Horses!!! :

The Northern Nevada Allies are scheduling a
demonstration on Wednesday, October 20 in Carson City. We are also asking
supporters of the Virginia Range horses to once again make some phone calls
and send emails. We are asking selected leaders to get this information out
to your respective circles of "advocate readers."

I've posted a "template" of this request on the AOWHA
web site. Feel free to copy and paste the information and personalize it as
you wish. It can be viewed and copied here:

I have also uploaded an image of what is happening to
these horses formatted for use in an email bulletin (compressed to make the
message file size reasonable.) That image is attached to this message.

We realize this is short notice however we would
greatly appreciate your independent distribution of our call ASAP in hopes
that we can get ahead of the issues illustrated in the request itself.

Thanks!

Willis (for the N. Nevada Allies)

For any of you wishing to use the "template" to send
out notices about the upcoming Carson City protest, but prefer to link
across to the AOWHA page instead of to your own (at the part that says "(web
address)") the AOWHA on-line bulletin is located at –

Here is my letter to Bob Abbey and the rest of the BLM
gang. I got a very nice and very positive thank you from Bob. Made me feel
very hopeful.

Hugs

P

p.s.

Let me know what you think about the letter to BLM.
Bet I will get a lot of flack from them.

--

FYI this is an open letter to BLM. Apparently from
what I understand they are not going to post it. However, if any of you
feel like posting it please feel free. The top BLM official, Mr. Robert
Abbey, wrote back to me and is definitely showing a willingness to try and
work together. I only received one other response and it was pretty
generic and he told me that BLM does not publish letters. My whole goal out
of all this is to have the truth out there and be able to save the orphan
foals as opposed to having them thrown away due to egos.

--

Dear Mr. Pogacnik:

I am writing this letter in clarification of recent
and ongoing publicity regarding Honey Bandit, the foal that I picked up at
the BLM facility in Litchfield. I am hoping that BLM prints this letter in
it's entirety on it's website, as I would like to make clear to America the
reason for this story being so public.

- - -

An "Open Letter" to BLM

My name is Lauri "Palomino" Armstrong. I am the person
who, with the support of other advocates, took in the special needs BLM
foal known as "Honey Bandit." Honey Bandit was noticed by advocates at BLM's
Litchfield Corrals and appeared to be in poor condition. There have been
both facts and speculation surrounding this "rescue," and while not
everything went smoothly, there was certainly cooperation by BLM and other
advocates in support of the care and recovery of this foal.

This letter clarifies my personal feelings and some
things that I want known. I want anyone who follows Honey bandit's story to
clearly understand that the journals describing Honey Bandit's issues and
care were not intended to be used as a tool to get people mad at BLM. This
story is about people getting off their duffs to get involved in helping
horses and the broader message is for concerned citizens to motivate
Congress to change some outdated legislation.

I have never “bashed” BLM. I definitely do not agree
with the roundups, especially how some are carried out and the way the
horses are transported. But I also realize that the people working at BLM's
holding facilities are not the people who make national policies.

The reason we are keeping Honey Bandit's story in the
public and taking him to Washington DC next spring is not to promote bad
feelings toward the BLM, but rather to get concerned Americans to contact
their elected lawmakers in Congress to get laws passed that better protect
our nation's wild horses and burros. The only way things are going to
change is if WE, THE PEOPLE, insist on change, using sensible and factual
arguments. I joined the call for a moratorium on the roundups because I
believe that a moratorium is appropriate until the laws can be changed to
better protect our horses and burros. I believe that we need to change the
way horses and burros are rounded up, as present strategies produce far too
many injuries and deaths. In reality, current laws prohibit a moratorium on
roundups. However, our call for a moratorium, and BLM's response that it
couldn't if it wanted to, clearly illustrates our point with respect to the
outdated nature of America's wild horse and burro laws.

Equally important is that advocacy is about all the
horses and burros, not just the ones out on the range. Therefore there are
many areas where we have to work with the people at BLM so that a safety
net is in place for at risk horses, before a problem is discovered. The
next time a foal like Honey Bandit comes in, a process must be in place
where BLM can call us or another qualified caregiver and we could pick up
the foal immediately.

Honey Bandit somehow did "slip through the cracks."
One reason for this was BLM not being aware of the help that was available
to deal with these situations. Sometimes advocates have to stand up and
say, "We're here to help and here is how we can help." Helping horses
doesn't mean we agree with all the national wild horse policies. It means
we're interested in helping horses.

To be fair to BLM, they did not hide Honey Bandit, or
let him die. They turned him over to our rescue which specializes in
orphan/critical care foals. Once BLM was made fully aware of the situation,
the people at Litchfield took appropriate action and our "combined"
decisions and actions saved the foal's life.

The fact that Honey Bandit's condition got overlooked
in a facility that was experiencing an influx of about 900 horses is not OK,
but what happened him afterwards is okay. By working together we were able
to get him to a place where he could have the 24/7 care that a foal in his
condition required. There will never be enough staff to provide that kind
of care at any of the BLM facilities, so their "standard of care" must
include assistance by qualified advocates.

Honestly, I have to say that there were situations and
conversations I had with BlM that I found to be very frustrating, but what
matters is that we resolved those situations so that everyone could work
together in the future. Honey Bandit is alive and he will continue to get
the message out that we, as the American people, need to make sure that the
laws are changed.

The real issue here is not that the personnel at
Litchfield don't care about the horses. They clearly do. What Honey
Bandit's situation illustrated is BLM is stretched pretty thin in order to
carry out its present "mandate." We are not likely to actually see a
moratorium. Congress may change some laws but it will be a slow process.
Meanwhile, horses coming off the range need homes, and in some instances
special care, right now. We need to agree to disagree about range policies
but work together wherever possible for the horses.

Also, we advocates need to recognize that BLM can and
will correct problems, particularly when advocates step up in cooperative
ways. At Litchfield, intervention in the case of at-risk foals will likely
be much improved, mainly because the staff now knows that they have a place
to send such foals. In Nevada, and with the cooperation of local horse
groups, BLM will not be removing horses from the Pine Nut Range but
trap-treat-release bands where found using time release fertility control.
The local horse groups have agreed in principle to monitor the success of
this "maintenance" approach to managing the herd. This evolution in herd
management should be better for the horses.

There appear to be other "improvements" being
considered.

If we as advocates can remember that this whole
advocacy is about horses and burros, and our complaints about problems can't
go so far as to undermine opportunities to achieve improvements for the
horses, then we really are helping the horses. But then we have to be
willing to step up when situations present themselves where we can help and
make a difference.

Yesterday another horse was hit on US-50 near to
Centennial Drive while crossing the highway to Hettrick's field. The recent
rains caused a large puddle to cover a portion of the "painted" cattle guard
and the horses learned to ignore it. There was also a horse hit in the
Damonte Ranch subdivision in Reno. In both situations the Nevada Department
of Agriculture prevented local citizens and groups from diverting the horses
back into the hills.

In contrast, in Dayton horses have also entered a
subdivision adjacent to US-50 when some fences were taken down to
accommodate recreational improvements at the Santa Maria River Park.
However in this instance the County and the adjacent developer took the lead
and met with local citizens and horse groups - and they kept the State out
of the issue. New fencing will be constructed that will not only enhance
safety at the park, but will discourage horses from entering developed areas
while still allowing access to the river for recreational users and rafting
enthusiasts.

Such are the approaches that communities have
historically used to mitigate "horse problems."

* * *

NDoA Director Tony Lesperance was quoted as saying that
the department no longer manages the Virginia Range herd. My question is
that if NDoA is out of the horse management business, why is the department
preventing the local communities from doing so? Kind of doesn't make sense.

* * *

Also I nailed NDoA for illegally selling horses. There
are five Virginia Range horses presently at the Fallon Livestock Exchange.
The Department planned to sell them starting this coming week. Yesterday I
hand delivered three weeks' worth of newspapers from Storey County to the
AG's office showing that the legally required estray "pick up" notices and
the required sale notices were never published in that county. TWO
separate notices are required, the second being placed no sooner than the
6th "working day" following the first.

(Even though the horses are technically "feral" an
estray notice is required when they are picked up just in case someone's
escaped private livestock were among the animals captured.)

"A notice of the estray, with a full description,
giving brands, marks and colors thereon, must be published in a newspaper
published at the county seat of the county in which the estray was taken
up." NRS 569.070(2)

"before the Department may sell feral livestock, the
Department must publish notice of the sale of the feral livestock in a
newspaper published at the county seat of the county in which the gathering
of the feral livestock occurred." NRS 569.075(2)

The legally recognized newspaper for Storey County is
the Comstock Chronicle.

NDoA finally admitted that they didn't place proper
legal notices. (They were placed in the Fernley Leader in Lyon County.)
After an argument in which she insisted that there weren't any newspapers in
Storey County, JoAnn Mothershead then tried to blame Daryl Peterson. That
came after I pointed out that an editor from one of the papers in Storey
County sent me three weeks' worth of the Comstock Chronicle that had all the
legal notices for the county except NDoA, and I also mentioned that I
had forwarded those papers to the Attorney General's office.

Ms. Mothershead at NDoA said that the notices would be
republished in the correct papers.

Also the horses sent to the Fallon Livestock Exchange
were apparently neither branded or microchipped, another issue that needs to
be resolved.

"Estrays and feral livestock must be marked, branded
or identified with an individual animal identification before sale or
placement." NRS 569.080(4)

Ms. Mothershead complained about having to deal with
the Virginia Range horses. I pointed out that except for having to publish
an estray notice when horses are picked up, the Department could simply drop
the horses off at one of the cooperating horse groups. On the 6th day
following the publication of the estray notice the horses could be "legally"
turned over to the group. For that matter the cooperative agreement could
make the group responsible for microchipping the horses before taking legal
possession, as well as require reimbursement to the Department for the costs
of the legal notices. Slam dunk. Less hassle and no expense for the
state. No Virginia Range horses going to the kill buyers.

The problem appears to be that Tony Lesperance doesn't
want any of the responsibility but wants all of the control. Ergo the
horses and public continue to suffer.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
has announced plans to round up – via a helicopter stampede in the middle of
winter – and eliminate 80 percent of the wild horses in Nevada’s Antelope
Complex. Claiming that only 427 to 788 horses can be supported by more than
1.3 million acres of public land, the BLM proposes to remove 1,659 horses
(plus 50 found outside the boundaries), bringing this herd down to only 427
horses. The BLM allows 18 times more farmed animals than wild horses to
graze on this same land, while blaming the horses for any damage done to the
range. The BLM can even increase the land allocated to privately-held
animals to 27 times the proposed wild horse herd size merely by releasing
some grazing rights that have been temporarily suspended.

Another Mound House horse was hit on US-50 last night,
just west of Centennial Drive in Carson City.

The state is still REFUSING to authorize diversion
feeding that the local communities would pay for and who would perform the
necessary labor to keep horses off the highway. In fact the officials have
said they would go after anyone who does that. This "position" affects all
the diversion feed programs on the range, including keeping horses out of
Reno and Virginia City.

In the meanwhile the Department of Agriculture is
picking up horses and hauling them to the Fallon Livestock Exchange. It
appears that the Department is doing this in secret, not publishing various
legal notices as required by law and not freezebranding the horses for
identification, also required by law.

I'll be taking a complaint to the Attorney General this
morning along with copies of the legal sections from the newspaper showing
that the required notices were not published. Meanwhile I urge everyone
with an interest in these horses to call the Governor's Office and Mr.
Hettrick's Office and demand an explanation as to why the state is
preventing the traditional control of these horses through feed diversion,
why the horses that were picked up haven't been turned over to cooperators,
and why horses are showing up in Fallon without the legally required public
notices and brands.

There are Virginia Range horses presently standing at
the Fallon Livestock Exchange and more are likely to show up.

2. Cooperators won't take the horses. (Of course they
will, they always have.)

3. The state is broke. (Then stop preventing the
citizens from addressing the problem.)

4. The state can sell the horses. (Only after the
public notice and branding requirements are met.)

5. Notices were published. (Advocates have copies of
the specific newspapers that the law says the notices have to appear in and
there are no notices.)

It is my opinion that in order to fix this situation we
can't let the state think we are simply going to let the issue die down.
They felt the pressure back when the "Hettrick's Irrigation" incident
started, but all indications are that they think we're losing interest and
things are returning to "business as usual."

The local citizens and horse groups could have solved
this problem but were prevented by the state.

":O) Willis

Here's Craig's report on the population estimate at
Twin Peaks after the round-up.

BLM Resource Advisory Councils Meeting
Reno, Nev.--The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada Resource Advisory
Councils (RACs) will hold their annual joint meeting at John Ascuaga’s
Nugget Hotel Casino in Sparks, Nev., on November 4-5, 2010. The meeting
begins at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 4. The public is invited to attend.
BLM Nevada has three regional RACs: the Northeastern Great Basin RAC, the
Sierra Front/Northwestern Great Basin RAC, and Mojave/Southern Great Basin
RAC. The RACs provide counsel and advice to the Secretary of the Interior,
through the BLM on issues involving management of the public lands.
Members represent commercial and non-commercial uses and local governments.
“The members of Nevada’s councils are people who are interested in the use
and the protection of public lands,” said Nevada State Director Ron Wenker.
“This annual meeting gives all members an excellent opportunity to visit
with their counterparts among the RACs, to discuss issues with the BLM, and
to get an overview of the BLM’s priorities and challenges for the upcoming
year.”
A public comment period will be held early in the afternoon on Thursday,
Nov. 4. The actual time will be posted on the website. The meeting agenda
will be available two weeks prior to the meeting at
www.blm.gov/nv. This forum provides an opportunity for people to ask
questions of the citizen-based advisory council and to make comments that
may provide RAC members a better understanding of their needs and concerns.
The three RACs will meet separately on Friday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 a.m. to elect
a chair and vice-chair and select meeting dates and agenda topics for the
coming year.

- BLM-

BLM Nevada News
Carson City District Office No.
11-03
For Release: September 10, 2010
Contact: Mark Struble, Public Affairs Officer, (775)
885-6107
Record-Setting Bids Cast at Wild Horse Adoption in Carson CityCarson City, Nev. - The
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Nevada
Department of Agriculture & the Nevada Department of Corrections on
Saturday, October 9, hosted the most successful saddle-trained horse
adoption event ever held at the Northern Nevada Correctional
Center (NNCC) in Carson City.
Seventeen wild horses, gathered in January 2010 from the Calico Complex of
BLM-administered public lands in northern Nevada and subsequently
saddle-trained for four months by inmate-trainers in the Nevada
Department of Corrections program, were offered in spirited
competitive bid adoption.
Successful bidders from an enthusiastic crowd over 200 people paid a total
of $29,900 for the animals.
All seventeen offered horses were adopted after starting bids of $150. The
event’s top bid of $8,500, the highest ever bid in the ten-year old program
in Carson City, went for a two-year old strawberry
roan gelding named “Quick.” Eleven of the horses sold for at least
$1,000 each.
The successful bidders officially adopted their new horse and they must show
diligent care of each animal for a year before they can apply to BLM to
receive a title of ownership. Since 1973, the BLM has placed more than
220,000 horses and burros into private ownership through the adoption
program.
The next saddle-trained horse adoption competitive auction event will be
held at the NNCC in Carson City on Saturday,
February 12, 2011.
More information about these special adoption events is available at:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/carson_city_field/blm_programs/wild_horse_and_burro.html
-BLM-

BLM Nevada News
WINNEMUCCA DISTRICT OFFICE NO. 2011-01
FOR RELEASE: October 7, 2010
CONTACT: Lisa Ross at (775) 623-1541,
lisa_ross@blm.govBLM Seeks Public Input on Proposed Wild Horse Gather in Augusta Mountains
Area
Winnemucca, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Winnemucca
District, Humboldt River Field Office has prepared a preliminary
environmental assessment (EA) proposing to gather about 344 wild horses from
in and around the Augusta Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA). The BLM
plans to gather and remove about 50 excess wild horses that have established
home ranges well outside the HMA in the adjoining Fish Creek Mountains. All
horses gathered within the HMA will be returned back to the HMA. The BLM
would appreciate receiving substantive comments on the preliminary EA by
November 5, 2010.
The established appropriate management level (AML) for wild horse population
within the Augusta Mountains HMA is 185 to 308. The BLM estimates there are
currently 294 wild horses in the HMA. The BLM proposes to gather the wild
horses in the HMA and vaccinate all of the mares with the PZP-22 (Porcine
Zona Pellucida) fertility control drug. The goal is to slow population
growth and maintain population size within the AML, and extend the time
before a gather to remove excess wild horses would be needed.
“Keeping the herd population in balance with the available forage and water
helps keep these wild horses healthy,” said Mike Truden, Humboldt River
Field Office manager. “It is the BLM’s responsibility to prevent
deterioration of the rangelands, achieve and maintain a thriving natural
ecological balance, and achieve and maintain healthy, viable wild horse
populations.”
The Augusta Mountains HMA is located in Churchill, Lander and Pershing
counties, about 75 miles southeast of Winnemucca, Nevada. The proposed
gather is tentatively scheduled to begin in January 2011.
The document may be reviewed online at
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/nepa0.html.
Printed copies are available upon request from the BLM Winnemucca District
Office. Questions and written comments should be directed to: Mike Truden,
Field Manager, Humboldt River Field Office, BLM Winnemucca District, 5100 E.
Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV 89445-2921. Comments may also be submitted
by email to
AugustaMts_HMA_PrelimEA@blm.gov. Email messages should include
“Augusta Mountains Gather Plan (Fox)” in the subject line. Public comments
submitted for this project, including names and addresses of commentors will
be available for public review at the WDO during regular business hours 7:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.

Dear Friends,
We wanted to give you an update on the Pony Express Delivery. Since the
beginning of August when we started the campaign, we have received 71,568 letters and emails! We are
so elated that so many people have come through on this…and are STILL coming
through on this; we’re still getting letters!!
We've received so much positive feedback for the Pony Express from all over
the world. So many schools and organizations begged us to let their kids’
letters be included. So, how could we say no to that?!
So, we appreciate your patience in this very important issue of
stopping the wild horse government roundups. We have extended the deadline,
so please keep sending your letters in if you haven’t already. This is an
issue that is at the top of everyone’s list and I will deliver on my
promise. Literally.
Additionally, we are currently working with the BLM on ways to halt the
gathers and a cooperative way to reach our goal. It’s an important issue to
all of us and we want to make sure it gets done properly.
Thank you for understanding and for your dedication to this project. Most
importantly, THANK YOU for supporting this cause and writing a letter for
this effort. Without you, this would not have been so successful.
Also, our highly anticipated Kids’ Cornerpage is up! Please take a look on the homepage of
www.savingamericasmustangs.org.
Involve your children by encouraging them to educate themselves through our
site. They can download the coloring page, send us photos and letters, and
will eventually have fact sheets to explain to their friends what is
happening to their horses.
Very Sincerely,
Madeleine Pickens + all the wild mustangs

I just now (4:30 pm - Friday) received a call from
someone telling me the horses are AGAIN on Highway 50 East, trying to cross
back to water after 'feeding on Lynn Hettrick's Smorgasboard!' So, here's
what I'm asking ALL OF YOU to do for the wild ones - even you who do not
live in our area, nor our state, but are trying to save these wild horses:

Please, make the following calls/emails immediately.
It doesn't matter if the office is closed for the weekend. What does matter
is if enough people placed these calls and emails, we can LITERALLY CRASH
THEIR SYSTEM!!! A portable, self-standing fence was seen surrounding the
acreage late last Saturday. On Tuesday, there were no fences surrounding
the 'field.' WHY????? Emergency flashing signs were placed last Thursday
on Highway 50 East warning drivers this location is where horses are
crossing, but the signs were removed on Tuesday. WHY????? (When Nevada
Department of Transportation was called on this one, Scott McGruder - head
of the department - wasn't even aware the signs had been taken down.
WHY???)

EMAILS: "It is your responsibility, as a public
servant, , to protect the citizens of Nevada as well as the animals of
Nevada. It is not the fault of the wild horses. It is the fault of Lynn
Hettrick who selfishly refuses to stop watering his so-called 'pasture.' "

Then, in making your phone calls, you can say just the
same thing above, but can use your own words if you prefer.

PLEASE, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME
TO DO THIS. OTHERWISE - SURE AS ANYTHING - THESE WILD HORSES, THROUGH NO
FAULT OF THEIR OWN, WILL BE ROUNDED UP AND VERY POSSIBLY BE SOLD AT THE
MEAT-BUYERS' MARKETS.........!

Thank you one and all, Bonnie

A Similar Vaccine

Recently, I have seen some interesting new trends
developing in BLM wild horse & burro proposals.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to remove
wild horses in Nevada’s Callaghan Complex to bring the number of horses
below the already artificially low number the BLM established for this area.
Despite stating that only 894 to 1,161 horses are allowed to live on this
1,000-square-mile area of public land, the BLM now proposes to remove 221
horses, bringing this herd down to just 862 horses. As usual, the BLM allows
more farmed animals to graze on this same land – and, as expected, the BLM
blames horses for the damage.

Please submit comments opposing this latest effort to
unnecessarily and inhumanely remove wild horses from land specifically
designated for them. Congress and the President need to stop turning a blind
eye to this broken program.
Click here to submit your comments by October 10

Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 2:27 PM
To: Wild Horse Mentors' List
Subject: USF&WS Sheldon Roundup Statistics
Please cross post where appropriate.
With the roundup completed, USF&WS Sheldon has released some statistics and
other related information in a press release. Since there has been some
general concern about what was happening in Sheldon, Tracie-Lynn Thompson
was able to obtain a copy that I converted to a PDF file and uploaded on the
AOWHA site. The document, among other things, describes Sheldon's
management practices, how to see Sheldon's Environmental Assessment, how
many horses have been removed, how many horses will be returned to the
range, Sheldon's mortality report and related information.
Here is the link to the Sheldon document.
http://www.aowha.org/documents/sheldon_100929_completed.pdf
Since the hyperlinks don't work on the PDF file, here are clickable links to
the EAs referenced in this document.
Horse gathers and other horse and burro management activities (such as
contraception, monitoring, research, and fencing) are described in the 2008
Horse and Burro Management Plan and environmental Assessment:
http://www.fws.gov/sheldonhartmtn/Sheldon/horseburro.html
Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement
(CCP/EIS). (That members of the public can learn about and sign up to make
comments:
http://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/NV/docssheldon.htm
The document also has contact information for anyone having questions about
this past gather or Sheldon's future intentions.
":O) Willis

Join Colorado Filmmakers and Advocates Ginger Kathrens
and James Kleinert for a series of screenings, presentations and discussions
in the Chicago area on the current state of our wild herds and what can be
done to save them. Featured will be clips from both of their latest
productions: of Ginger’s “Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions” and
James’ “Diappointment Valley: A Modern Day Western”

Ginger Kathrens is an Emmy-Award Winning Filmmaker
known for her 15-year documentation of Cloud, a pale wild stallion.

James Kleinert’s films are meant to educate views about
the disturbing, massive removal of our horses and to inspire changes for the
future of these precious animals.

Wild Horses and Burros of the Western U.S. and
Cloud’s Herd in Montana – History, Update, Film Clips and Q&A.

A great event for children and adults to learn more
about our Mustangs and meet Ginger and James. Free autographed Cloud Poster
to the first 25 kids under 16. Adult admission $10, kids free.
*Sat. October 9 – Hilton Lisle – 3003 Corporate West Drive • 3-4:30 p.m.

Disappointment Valley – AModern Day
WesternWild Horse Documentary and Expose by James Kleinert,
featuring Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Viggo Mortensen, Daryl Hannah and
many others. The screening includes discussion and Q&A with James and
Ginger.
www.theamericanwildhorse.com

Here we go again. It's only three days into the
controversial
Silver King roundup, south of Ely, Nevada, and the BLM has
already killed four perfectly healthy wild horses out of the 177 they've
taken into custody.

Why were these horses "euthanized" (i.e., "shot")?
According to the BLM's
report from the roundup: "Three of the horses were blind in one eye
from previous injuries. The fourth horse suffered with a severe sway
back."

This is getting to be too much to bear. One-eyed
horses can function perfectly well under a variety of conditions, as can
sway-backed horses, and it's difficult to imagine how these killings can
possibly be justified, unless, of course, the eye injuries actually occurred
during the entrapment process, and were not "pre-existing."

Observers in the field have noted that a magnificent
white stallion is among those whom the BLM's contractor,
Cattoor, has trapped since Saturday

Eighty-four of the captured wild horses have already
been shipped to the BLM holding facility at
Indian Lakes Road in Fallon, Nevada, which is currently closed to
outside observers.

The BLM intends to remove a total of 546 wild horses
from the 606,000-acre
Silver King Herd Management Area, allowing only a handful to remain. If
they succeed, it will be only a matter of time before wild horses will roam
this vast Great Basin no more.

For the Wild Ones:

This is both video and song for the wild ones but each
time it is watched on youtube it gets counted!

By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Staff Writer
The wild horse sanctuary planned by Gov. Bill Richardson would have a
maximum carrying capacity of about 25 to 30 of the iconic animals, according
to an estimate by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
That means the sanctuary could serve as home for just a tiny fraction of the
33,000 or so wild horses now roaming free on public lands in the West.
Richardson recently announced a plan to spend $2.9 million in federal
stimulus money to buy the 12,000-acre Ortiz Mountain Ranch in Santa Fe
County for the sanctuary.
The administration hasn't released estimates on how much more money it would
take to get the sanctuary established and how much the annual operating
costs would be. It says the sanctuary's operation will involve private and
nonprofit organizations and one or more federal agencies.
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the Democratic nominee to succeed Richardson, and
Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, oppose using
stimulus money to buy the ranch, saying the funds could be put to better
use, given state government budget troubles. Denish's opponent, Republican
Susana Martinez, also opposes it.
Wild horses are descendants of domestic horses, some of which were brought
to this country by European explorers in the 16th century. "Feral" is
actually a more accurate adjective.
According to the BLM, which runs the nation's Wild Horse and Burro Program,
there were 33,102 wild horses in 10 Western states as of February 2009. New
Mexico, with 114 wild horses, has the fewest. Most of the horses are in
Nevada.
New Mexico has two horse herds recognized as wild by the Bureau of Land
Management. One is the herd in the Bordo Atravesado area east of Socorro;
the other is in the Carracas Mesa area in north-central New Mexico near the
Colorado border.
As of February 2009, the Bordo Atravesado area had an estimated 102 wild
horses, well above the maximum carrying capacity of 60 for the herd
management area of 19,600 acres, according to the BLM.
The Carracas Mesa area had an estimated 12 horses, well below the maximum
carrying capacity of 23 for the herd management area of 9,000 acres.
Horses in a free-roaming herd in the Placitas area just north of Albuquerque
aren't recognized by the BLM as wild. The animals are considered escapees
from their owners on the San Felipe Pueblo.
Richardson said at a White House conference on the outdoors last spring that
he wanted to establish a sanctuary for wild horses.
"We need the BLM to better understand state needs to preserve these icons
that are so much a part of America," the governor said.
The BLM says that before it will allow wild horses to be moved onto a
state-run sanctuary, the agency will need to conduct environmental studies,
including an analysis of how many horses the sanctuary could sustain.
"We just can't throw horses out there," said Bill Merhege, the BLM's deputy
state director for resources.
Administration and BLM representatives have met in recent months about the
possibility of the sanctuary, and Merhege said he and a BLM range
conservationist visited the ranch.
Merhege said he estimated a maximum carrying capacity of 20 to 30 horses.
"It could be less; it could be more. That's why we need to do the range
studies," he said.
The administration says the sanctuary could sustain 25-50 horses on the
ranch land west of N.M. 14 and additional horses on the eastside of the
highway where the main visitor center would be located.
It says the ranch was chosen for the sanctuary became of its relative low
price, readily available water sources and hiking trails and because the
main ranch house could become a visitor center.
Under Richardson's plan, the ranch would become part of Cerrillos Hills
State Park. The ranch is about 10 miles south of the park, which now
consists of just 1,100 acres and has two employees.
The state's acquisition of the ranch is subject to approval by the state
Board of Finance, which Denish sits on. Richardson is president of the board
and postponed action on the ranch acquisition because he couldn't attend a
meeting of the board this week.
A final note: Wild horse advocate Madeleine Pickens was quoted as saying in
a story published Wednesday that the United States had 2 million wild
mustangs a century ago. The BLM says the figure has never been
substantiated.
UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Thom Cole can be
reached in Santa Fe at (505) 992-6280 or at
tcole@abqjournal.com.

BLM Nevada News
ELY DISTRICT OFFICE NO. 2010-60
FOR RELEASE: Friday, Sept. 24, 2010
CONTACT: Chris Hanefeld, (775) 289-1842;
chris_hanefeld@nv.blm.govBLM Offers to Lead Public
to Silver King Gather Observation Areas
Ely, Nev. – Due to the large area encompassed by the Silver King Herd
Management Area (HMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is offering to
lead and direct interested members of the public and media to designated
viewing areas on non-scheduled observation days. Members of the public may
either travel on their own, or may go to the rendezvous location and follow
a BLM employee to that day’s gather site.
For more information or to sign up, call Chelsey Falge, BLM Ely District
administrative clerk, at (775) 289-1800. The BLM will identify the daily
rendezvous time and place to meet and visitors safely follow the BLM to the
observation area. The BLM also will regularly post gather information on its
Website at:
www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ely_field_office.html.
The Silver King Wild Horse Gather is scheduled to start Saturday, September
25, 2010. About 546 excess wild horses will be gathered and removed from
in and around the Silver King HMA in Lincoln County, about 90 miles south of
Ely, Nev. There will be no closure of the public lands and therefore, the
public lands within the Silver King HMA will be open to the public during
the gather operations, subject to necessary safety restrictions.
The BLM has established protocols for non-scheduled and scheduled public
observation days, which are available at
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ely_field_office/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/silver_king_herd_management.html
.
Non-Scheduled Observation Days
Individuals will be directed to the designated observation area by BLM
personnel and informed of behavioral rules (such as remaining quiet and
still to ensure a safe and effective gather operation). Individuals
attempting to move outside a designated observation area will be requested
to move back to the designated area, or, in the event that individuals fail
to comply with the necessary safety precautions, they will be required to
leave the site.
A failure to comply with the safety rules and precautions put in place
during the gather may result in citation or arrest as the failure to remain
within the designated observation areas poses a threat to the safety of BLM
personnel and contractors, members of the public and to the wild horses.
If there are changes in circumstances that may pose additional risks to
health, public safety or the safety of wild horses (such as weather,
lightening, wildfire, etc.), BLM will provide further safety instructions
at the gather and/or holding sites.
Scheduled Public Observation Days
The BLM has tentatively scheduled observation days on Tuesday, Sept. 28 and
Tuesday, Oct. 5, to provide the media and public opportunities to view
gather activities. The dates are subject to change depending upon weather
and gather operations. Scheduled days provide visitors more opportunity to
interact with BLM staff and will include escorted opportunities to observe
the animals at the gather and holding corrals. For more information or to
sign up, call Chelsey Falge, BLM Ely District administrative clerk, at (775)
289-1800. The BLM will also regularly post gather information on its
Website at:
www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ely_field_office.html.
The gathered animals will be transported to the Gunnison Prison Wild Horse
Facility at Gunnison Utah and the Indian Lakes Facility near Fallon, Nevada,
where they will be prepared and offered for adoption to qualified
individuals through the BLM Adopt-A-Horse or Burro Program. Wild horses for
which there is no adoption demand will be placed in long-term pastures where
they will be humanely cared for and retain their “wild” status and
protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM
does not sell or send any horses to slaughter.
For more information, contact Chris Hanefeld, BLM Ely District public
affairs specialist, at (775) 289-1842 or
chris_hanefeld@blm.gov.

This incident not only illustrates Nevada horse issues
but also the games that get played regarding Nevada water rights. The
"alfalfa patch" is located within the Carson City city limits. Carson City
has watering restrictions in effect for the city, as described in this
Nevada Appeal story.

So while the residents of Carson City are on water
restrictions, the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff is watering what could
best be described as a glorified weed patch, claiming that he is putting the
water to "beneficial use" in order to retain some water rights that he owns.

If this was a legitimate commercial farming operation
it would be one thing. But irrigating a rocky, unimproved, weed and brush
infested commercially nonviable piece of ground to retain water rights while
the rest of the city is going thirsty seems over the top.

WHAT YOU CAN DO.

Leave your personal comments, regardless as to how you
feel about the situation, on the comment blog that accompanies the horse
story. The papers use comments to gauge public interest in the various
topics they cover. Horses need to remain a hot topic.

Contact the Division of Water Resources and ask how
someone can irrigate a weed patch inside the Carson City city limits and
claim it as beneficial use while the rest of the city is on water
restrictions, and ask that the matter be fully investigated. The property
is on Drako Rd.

and is owned by Lynn Hettrick. 775-684-2800

Continued attention to this issue will help prevent
others from scapegoating our horses, creating a public safety hazard, (and
in this instance wasting our water) for their own personal benefit.

Thanks!

Help the Moundhouse WH’s in Nevada!!! :

Hi Folks, I just walked in the door and had a message
that apparently there are plans to pickup our Moundhouse Herd in the next
two days as early as September 22nd. Although this is a local issue, I
decided to send this information to the entire list. We have a few folks
that use to live here that will probably be interested and I don't believe
it hurts to let others see what we are fighting in Nevada in our quest to
protect the horses that do not fall under the BLM's jurisdiction.

My information at this time is that Lynn Hettrick,
Governor Gibbons' Deputy Chief of Staff for Agriculture, State of Nevada is
raising a small field (approx. 2 acres) of alfalfa and what sounds like
volunteer grasses. This land is located in the Computer Corp area and just
behind the Oliver's Machine Shop. It sounds like this is a very small amount
of land is being watered and has been planted, has no barriers and NO
FENCE. It is unclear why this land has been planted as it seems NOT to be a
workable field for harvesting or bailing hay. One wonders just exactly what
the reasons for planting such a grazing animal "calling card" in that
particular area was done for. It very obviously will be a definite draw for
these horses and there are also cattle that are occasionally grazed in the
hills not far away that may be lured down and quite possibly get out to the
highway also. Carson City Code Enforcement has indicated that Carson City
still falls under the state fencing laws.

IF WE DON'T GET CALLS INTO the GOVERNOR'S OFFICE AND
NDA IMMEDIATELY, THESE HORSES WILL MOST PROBABLY GO TO SALE AT FALLON. The
situation here is that the people that own the land and are doing the
planting do not have a fence around the property. SINCE THIS IS A FENCE OUT
STATE, IT IS THEIR RESPONSIBILITY but the "powers that be" have apparently
decided that our horses will be the ones paying the price with their
lives for other people's negligence. These horses almost never wandered
across the road to this location until just recently with the grasses and
hay coming up on this private property. While the fence would be the legal
way to become compliant with the law, now that the horses know it's there,
it will be a VERY hard situation to control even if they did right and
put up a fence at this late date. It seems to me that this land should be
turned over and disk up to let it go back to normal seed and not watered. I
suspect they only reason it is planted is to preserve water rights for this
location for the owner. WE HAVE TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO THIS SITUATION. We
have lost far too many already for various and ignorant reasons, whether it
be OUR State horses or from OUR Federal Lands.

WE HAVE TO FLOOD GOVERNMENT OFFICES WITH PHONE CALLS
AND EMAILS LETTING THEM KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY if these horses
are taken and sent to the kill buyers. WHAT IS IT ABOUT FENCE OUT THAT THESE
PEOPLE IN AUTHORITY ARE NOT GETTING ???? and why are the horses being lured
into situations that will ultimately cause their demise in one sense or the
other. This is a legal issue and what few horses we have left in this area
are in TERRIBLE JEOPARDY.

PLEASE CALL AND/OR FAX ASAP and make your voices heard
loud and clear that this is NOT ACCEPTABLE. The PEOPLE that are responsible
need to step up to the plate and do what's RIGHT in this situation and stop
"scapegoating" OUR HORSES.

BLM Nevada News
BATTLE MOUNTAIN DISTRICT OFFICE, NO. 2010-36
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 21, 2010
CONTACT: Schirete Zick, 775-635-4000,
schirete_zick@blm.govBLM Extends Public Comment Period for Callaghan Wild Horse Gather
Battle Mountain, Nev. -- The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Battle Mountain
District, Mount Lewis Field Office is extending the public comment period
for the Callaghan wild horse gather preliminary Environmental Assessment
(EA) to Friday, Oct. 10, 2010.
The extension provides additional time to comment on the proposed
application of fertility control to wild mares and the removal of about 221
excess wild horses from the Callaghan Complex and New Pass/Ravenswood Herd
Management Areas (HMA). The gather would bring the number of wild horses in
these HMAs to 862 animals. The proposed gather area is located 55 miles
south of Battle Mountain in Lander County.
The proposal and associated impacts are described and analyzed in the
Callaghan Complex Wild Horse Gather Plan and Preliminary EA. If approved,
the gather would begin in early December. Comments received during the
public review period will be analyzed and considered as part of the
decision-making process.
The EA can be found on the Battle Mountain website at:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/battle_mountain_field.html
Questions and written comments should be mailed to Doug Furtado, Mount Lewis
Field Manager, 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, NV 89820. Comments may
also be provided through e-mail to: callaghan_newpass_gather@blm.gov
When submitting comments, be aware that your address, phone number, e-mail
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, may be
made public.
The gather is needed to slow population growth to maintain population size
within the appropriate management level (AML), and to remove wild horses
from outside the HMA boundaries in order to protect rangeland resources from
deterioration associated with an overpopulation of wild horses. The BLM
conducts wild horse gathers to maintain a thriving natural ecological
balance and multiple use relationship on the public lands consistent with
the provisions of Section 3(b) (2) of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and
Burros Act of 1971.
The proposal is to gather approximately 80 percent of the existing
populations and treat all mares to be released back to the HMAs with the
fertility control vaccine PZP-22. Approximately 866 of an estimated 1,083
horses would be gathered, but only 221 horses would be removed.
This gather is the start of a new strategy to use fertility control over a
period of several years to reduce the number of horses gathered and removed
from these HMAs, and ultimately reduce the number of horses in long term
holding. The emphasis is to remove weanlings, some yearlings and wild horses
captured from outside HMA boundaries. The post gather goal would be
approximately 862 wild horses remaining within these HMAs.
Animals removed would be transported to a temporary BLM holding facility and
be prepared for adoption, long term holding pastures or sale. It is
estimated that most of the wild horses removed would be young and highly
adoptable, with few horses needing to be maintained in long term holding
pastures. The BLM will leave 80 percent of the existing population in the
HMAs.
-BLM-
Schirete Zick
Public Affairs Officer
BLM Battle Mountain District
775-635-4067szick@blm.gov

PLEASE CROSS POST.

In a situation bizarre enough only to happen in Nevada,
the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff is apparently engaged in some kind of
odd quasi-agricultural scheme that is luring Virginia Range horses across a
busy US highway, resulting in some being killed and in plans for all the
others to be trapped and hauled off to the Fallon Livestock Exchange. What
appears to be the scam here is Lynn Hettrick's running what looks to be a
fake farming operation in order to hold onto water rights assigned to
legitimate agricultural uses. This impractical operation taking place on the
edge of the wild horse range was never fenced and it has become a daily
feeding stop for the horses.

The reader can draw his/her own conclusions from the
information posted in this story.

All appearances are that now someone else on this
Governor's staff is putting his personal interests above public safety and
the taxpayers' interests.

Please read, and respond and pass along if you see
fit. We have a very short window in which to try to fix this
situation.

Thanks.

":O) Willis

Subject: BLM
Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Antelope Complex Wild Horse Gather
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:18:37 -0600
(See attached file: 09.16.10 BLM Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Antelope
Complex Wild Horse Gather PRAjw.doc)
BLM Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Antelope Complex Wild Horse Gather
Elko, Nev.—The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko and Ely districts are
seeking public comment on the Antelope Complex Wild Horse Gather Preliminary
Environmental Assessment, which addresses the need to remove approximately
1,268 to 1,659 wild horses from in and around the Antelope Complex to bring
the number of wild horses in the complex to the appropriate management level
of 427-788 wild horses. The complex is located approximately 60 miles south
of Wells, Nev., and consists of the Antelope Herd Management Area (HMA)
which is managed by the Ely District,
Schell Field Office and the Antelope Valley, Goshute, and Spruce-Pequop HMAs
which are managed by the Elko District, Wells Field Office. The proposed
gather is tentatively scheduled to begin in January 2011. The BLM will
accept comments until Oct. 19, 2010.
Appropriate management level for the Antelope Complex is 427-788 wild
horses, but there are currently an estimated 2,086 wild horses within the
complex. The proposed gather is needed to remove excess wild horses to help
prevent further deterioration of the range, achieve and maintain a thriving
natural ecological balance and achieve and maintain healthy, viable wild
horse populations. If more than 1,659 wild horses are
gathered, selective removal criteria would be used to return horses to the
range. Of the horses remaining on the range, BLM would conduct fertility
control measures on mares and/or adjust the sex ratios of the gathered
animals to be returned to the HMA to 60 percent male/40 percent female
ratios.
Only written comments will be considered. Written comments may be mailed to
the BLM Elko District Office, Attn: Bryan Fuell, Wells Field Manager, 3900
Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801, or e-mailed to:
antelope_complex_gather@blm.gov. Email comments sent to any other
email address will not be considered.
For more information, contact Bruce Thompson, BLM Elko District wild horse
and burro specialist, at (775) 753-0200 or Ben Noyes, BLM Ely District wild
horse and burro specialist at (775) 289-1800.

The lack of transparency as to where these horses came
from raised concerns that many of the horses could have been BLM or Indian
Nation horses that had strayed off their ranges and were "claimed" by
private landowners. Nobody was getting a straight answer.

Jill Starr eventually determined that most of the
horses were ranch stock or the offspring of ranch stock and the origins of a
handful of "mustang like" horses will likely never be identified. Since
Lifesavers and their allied advocates had already "engaged" in this matter,
they stayed on this issue and outbid the kill buyers for the horses.

The problem with "transparency" in this instance has
nothing to do with BLM, but rather a system that is in place that makes it
extremely difficult to track the origins and history of horses that, had the
advocates not been present, would have entered the human food supply.

Even BLM had difficulty trying to determine if any of
the horses could possibly be theirs. There is no accounting for what drugs
or medications some of these horses may have been given. With HR.503
possibly being resurrected, the lack of accountability in the chain of
transactions involving horses intended for food is the big story here.

It is discussed in greater detail in the AOWHA article.

If we are going to criticize China and other foreign
countries for sending contaminated products to our shores, we need to live
by the same standards. Clearly with respect to horses being sold for
slaughter, for all practical purposes we have no standards.

":O) Willis

Dear Our
Fabulous Wild Horse Supporters,
We are SO excited to FINALLY announce the best news we have had to share
with you in over 2 1/2 years!
OUR MUSTANGS ARE GETTING THEIR SANCTUARY AND HAVE THE BLM’S SUPPORT!!!
Over the past three days, I have been to meetings in Sacramento and again in
Washington, DC. I’ve met with BLM Director, Bob Abbey, Deputy Director, Mike
Pool, along with the Wild Horse and Burro team. The BLM has officially
agreed to support going forward with the development of the wild horse Eco-
sanctuary for the horses in holding! Also in DC, I met with Congressman, Jim
Moran, who had already given his blessing, but is submitting legislation to
members of Congress on behalf of these wild mustangs. We are so thankful to
him and his staff for their efforts on the wild horse and burro issue. All
the meetings were fabulous and we could not be happier about the news!
This final acceptance by the BLM this week was the hurdle we had yet to get
over. We are so thankful for the opportunity to start our Pilot Program with
1,000 horses, and we aim to get all 36,000+ horses in holding soon after.
This action by the BLM shows great leadership on the part of Bob Abbey and
Mike Pool for taking a stand for our beautiful mustangs and accepting the
solution we have offered. Saving America’s Mustangs gives our sincerest
thanks for the monumental cooperation on the part of the BLM for an
alternative to the holding pens.
This is a truly a dream come true and I’m thrilled to share this news with
all of you!! Let the rejoicing begin!!
Click here to watch the second SAM Cam update on 9/16/10.
Very Sincerely,
Madeleine Pickens and the (*cheering) Mustangs
*On a less excited note, 175 wild horses are to be sold to killer buyers in
Nevada Sat, Sept. 18. Lifesavers Horse Rescue is taking a huge risk in
trying to save as many horses as they can tomorrow. If anyone can help,
please visit Lifesaver's web site -
http://wildhorserescue.org/
Follow Madeleine on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/mpickens
Become Madeleine Pickens' Friend on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/madeleine.pickens
Visit her website for up to the minute information:
www.savingamericasmustangs.org
Saving America's Mustangs' Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Madeleine-Pickens-Wild-Horse-Sanctuary/163062350007?ref=sgm

BLM to Conduct Silver
King Wild Horse Gather
Ely, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ely District, Caliente andSchell field offices are scheduled to begin
the Silver King wild horse gather on or about September 19. The gather is
expected to last approximately two weeks. The BLM will remove about 546 excess wild horses
located in and around the Silver King Herd Management Area (HMA) in Lincoln
County, about 90 miles south of Ely,
Nev.
The BLM estimates there are more than 600 wild horses in the gather area and
any horses gathered above targeted removal numbers will be released back to
the HMA so that the remaining population is within the appropriate
management level (AML) range of 60-128. The
mares released back to the range would be vaccinated with PZP-22 (Porcine
Zona Pellucida) fertility control vaccine.
The gather, removal and fertility control are intended to slow population
growth, maintain population size within the appropriate management levels
and extend the time before another gather to remove excess wild horses would
be needed. Additionally, adjustment of sex ratios of the gathered animals
to be returned to the HMAs may be made to 60 percent male/40 percent female
ratios. The Caliente and Schell field offices issued the Decision Record for
the Final Environmental Assessment for the Silver King Herd Management Area
Gather Plan on June 30.The BLM has tentatively scheduled two
observation days—Tuesday, Sept. 21 and Tuesday, Sept. 28—to provide the
media and public opportunities to view gather activities. The dates are
subject to change depending upon weather and gather operations. These
will be the only two observation days offered for this gather based on
gather site location accessibility. For more
information or to sign up, call Chelsey Falge, BLM Ely District
administrative clerk, at (775) 289-1800. The BLM will also regularly
post gather information on its Website at:
www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ely_field_office.html.
The BLM coordinates closely with the Nevada Department of Agriculture’s (NDOA)
Brands Division to provide Brand Inspectors during wild horse removal
efforts across the State. NDOA brand inspectors must verify the animals are
wild horses and burros as defined by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros
Act of 1971.
Once verified, the Brand Inspector will provide the BLM a certificate to
transport the animals. Without this cooperation and coordination, the BLM
would not be able to remove the excess wild horses and burros which, if not
removed in a timely manner, would result in degradation of our native
rangelands. The NDOA also may take jurisdiction of any estray, branded or
abandoned domestic horse(s) under the State of Nevada estray laws.
Gathered horses will be transported to the Palomino Valley Center outside
Reno, Nev. and Delta Wild Horse Corrals in Delta, Utah. The public may visit
the Palomino Valley Center during its regularly scheduled visiting
hours Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to
noon. The Delta Wild Horse Corrals are open to the public Monday through
Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The BLM will use helicopters to gather the wild horses and will transport
the animals by motorized vehicles. The use of helicopters, which is
authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, has
proven to be a safe, effective, and practical means for gathering excess
wild horses from the public lands, and large scale geographic areas such as
the Silver King gather area.
Horses removed from the range will be offered for adoption to qualified
individuals. Unadopted horses will be placed in long-term pastures where
they will be humanely cared for and treated, and will retain their “wild”
status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros
Act. The BLM does not sell or send any horses to slaughter.
The gather and impacts are described and analyzed in the Silver King Herd
Management Area Gather Plan Final Environmental Assessment (EA). The EA, a
video about the gather and other gather-related information are posted on
the BLM website at:
www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ely_field_office.html.
For more information, please call Chris Hanefeld, BLM Ely District public
affairs specialist, at 775-289-1842.
--BLM--
Chris Hanefeld, 775-289-1842
Ely District Office public affairs

The Lyon County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife has
BLM's upcoming wild horse gathers for the Pine Nut and Lahontan HMAs on its
agenda for its September 13th meeting in Yerington. Here is a link
to a copy of the agenda.

The Board is providing an opportunity for public
feedback to the Board and to the BLM representative. Everyone who has an
interest in these gathers is encouraged to attend. These meetings start at
6:00 PM and BLM is near the top of the agenda so you shouldn't be out very
late! Bonnie Matton indicated that she would assist in matching riders to
carpools from the central county. mattonco@prodigy.net

BLM Nevada News
BATTLE MOUNTAIN DISTRICT OFFICE: NO. 2010-36
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 9, 2010
CONTACT: Schirete Zick (775) 482-7800;
schirete_zick@blm.govBLM Initiates Montezuma Peak and Paymaster
Wild Horse Gathers
Tonopah, Nev. – On September 13 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Battle
Mountain District, Tonopah Field Office will begin gathering approximately
182 excess wild horses and burros within and outside the Montezuma Peak and
Paymaster Herd Management Areas (HMAs).
The gathers are needed to achieve the appropriate management level (AML)
within the HMAs to achieve a thriving natural ecological balance for the
remaining wild horse and burro population, wildlife, livestock and
vegetation. Located at the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, the HMAs are
very arid do not provide suitable habitat for large numbers of wild horses
and burros.
Approximately 45 excess wild horses will be gathered and removed from
outside of the Paymaster HMA and inside if needed to reach an AML of 23 wild
horses. Approximately 61 wild burros and 78 wild horses would be gathered
and removed from within and outside of the Montezuma Peak HMA to achieve an
AML of three wild horses and 10 wild burros. The BLM issued Final Multiple
Use Decisions between 2001 and 2007 that established the AMLs for the HMAs.
The gather will be conducted in close coordination with the Nevada
Department of Agriculture’s (NDOA) Brands Division to provide brand
inspectors during wild horse removal efforts across the State. NDOA brand
inspectors must verify the animals are wild horses and burros as defined by
the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
Once verified, the brand inspector will provide the BLM a certificate to
transport the animals. Without this cooperation and coordination, the BLM
would not be able to remove the excess wild horses and burros which, if not
removed in a timely manner, would result in degradation of our native
rangelands. The NDOA also may take jurisdiction of any estray, branded or
abandoned domestic horse(s) under the State of Nevada estray laws.
The excess horses and burros will be transported to the BLM short-term
holding facility near Ridgecrest, Calif., where they will be monitored
closely, provided good feed, water and veterinarian care as needed. They
will be dewormed, vaccinated, and freeze marked, and all 12 month and older
studs will be gelded.
Once the animals have fully recovered they will be made available for
adoption to qualified applicants through the BLM’s Adopt-A-Wild Horse or
Burro Program. The public may visit the BLM’s website at
www.blm.gov for more information about adopting a wild horse or burro.
Public Observation Day
A public observation day has tentatively been scheduled for September 14 or
15, to provide the media and public an opportunity to view ongoing gather
activities. The date is subject to change depending upon weather and gather
operations.
“There will be only one observation day due to the short timeframe of the
gather,” said Tom Seley, Tonopah Field Manager. “It also provides the
public an opportunity to see the care the BLM and the gather contractor
uses to gather and handle the animals.”
BLM representatives will rendezvous with interested members of the public at
the Tonopah Field Office, 1553 S. Main St., Tonopah, Nev., at 6:30 a.m., and
caravan to the gather site, which will be about a half hour drive from
Tonopah. Four-wheel drive or high-clearance vehicles are recommended. The
observation day will last approximately four to five hours, with an
approximate departure time from the gather site between noon and 1 p.m.
In an effort to provide a safe environment for the animals, BLM staff,
contractors and members of the public and media, requests will be accepted
on a first come, first served basis and be limited to 10 people. Space
should be reserved ahead of time by calling Karen Goldsmith at (775)
482-7836. Daily gather operations could be suspended if bad weather
conditions create unsafe flying conditions.
-BLM-

BLM Foal rescued (had 97 bite marks ):

Palomino Armstrong watches over Honey Bandit, a
2-month-old foal, as the horse is treated Tuesday at Crossroads Veterinary
Clinic in Anderson. Armstrong got the horse from the Bureau of Land
Management on Thursday.
The foal was covered with bites and malnourished.

Hi, just wondered if you could post this. It is a
wish list for HoneyBandit if people would rather get him ‘stuff’ as opposed
to sending money if they want to help.

Yesterday was quite the day. We moved the “hospital”
inside our carport/garage. It poured rain and was nasty cold. It is
actually a pretty good setup. We also installed a sling so HoneyBandit
could spend more time “upright” as opposed to laying down all the time and
getting pneumonia. He really cannot handle anything else happening to him
at this point. It doesn’t hold him up, just gives him a little support so
he doesn’t get so tired. He looks very cute in it.

I am sending pix of him standing by the trailer
eating. He is actually looking much better than he did when he got here.
We changed one of his meds yesterday and I think that was huge. He still
can’t stand up by himself, but when we do stand him up, he stands much
stronger. He is also walking much better. Matt was hanging out in the
chair while I took one of those ladies room breaks, and he said that HB
walked up to him and he was petting him and that he went to take a big bite
out of his leg. His ears weren’t pinned or anything, but he is starting to
have more normal impulses. He actually walked over to a t v tray we are
using for supplies and “chewed” on it like a normal baby. These are tiny,
yet huge. He is munching away as we speak. We have to take him back to
the vet in a couple hours for more blood work and I am hoping that we get a
little better news.

Our vet is working very hard to help him, but is
shocked that he lived this long and has doubts about whether he will
survive, but I think (hopefully and God willing) that she will find out that
MUSTANG HEART kicks butt and they can beat the odds. She said that she had
never ever seen a foal with this much damage

Editor’s note: as horrible
as this tragedy w/ Honey Bandit is-if Laurie is able to establish &
maintain some type of “working relationship” w/BLM(which she is concerned
won’t happen if a “backlash goes at them on this”)-A LOT OF FOALS WILL BE
ABLE TO BE SAVED IN THE FUTURE.Yes,we all hate theBLM-but we MUST PUT THE
LIVES OF THESE BABIES AS TOP PRIORITY!The info that I am getting behind the
scenes on this tragedy is that some of the workers are already being
severely reprimanded.( I sure hope they fire them!)There is NO EXCUSE FOR
THIS!

We are still getting so many
emails and letters from you now that the Pony Express deadline has been
extended until September 10th! Keep them coming, we are so
appreciative of all your effort! We have surpassed our goal so much and are
just over the moon!

Current Pony Express Count: 30,521

We are in the process of
finalizing our float design for the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s
Day. Thank you all for sending in all your float suggestions to us. We have
incorporated bits and pieces of a lot of them. We cannot wait to present our
mustangs to 53 million viewers and thousands of spectators!

We have started a SAM Cam. I
will give periodic video updates on important things going on with the SAM
team. Our first one can be viewed
here or on the facebook
pages.
Also, be sure to visit the News and Events section on
www.savingamericasmustangs.org for
updates on the roundups currently happening and more information on the wild
horse issue. It's very important to educate yourself, so you can educate
others.
If you haven't done so yet, it takes less than a minute to click the Pony
Express button and send your letter to us. Please do this for our wild
mustangs and for future generations so that they can see these majestic
creatures thriving in their natural environment.

We have had a couple of
people from outside the US that wanted to write, but cannot do it from
the Pony Express button, because it asks for a US zip code. Or if the link
isn't working for you, please email directly to
madeleinesponyexpress@gmail.com.
Mailed letters can be sent to:
Saving America's Mustangs
2683 Via De La Valle, G 313
Del Mar, CA 92014
I am so pleased that so many new people have subscribed to our list and
joined our team! I sincerely thank you for taking the time to educate your
contacts about not only the Pony Express, but about our mustangs belonging
to the American people.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Labor Day!
Respectfully,
Madeleine Pickens & the Wild Mustangs

LAS VEGAS — Government contractors have fired up their
helicopters for yet another roundup of Nevada wild horses. The latest gather
targets a remote area north of
Ely, Nevada.

Four more roundup operations are on the schedule in our
state this year. They will not only thin the herds, but wipe them out
altogether.

2010 already ranks as one of the most aggressive in the
history of
Bureau of Land Management horse
roundups, with a lot more to come. Operations which proved deadly for the
herds have already scooped up thousands of mustangs from public ranges, but
with no commensurate reduction in the number of private cattle allowed to
stay.

The next round seems are designed to wipe out the
horses altogether.

The Moriah Herd area near Ely will result in the
removal of every one of the 72 horses living on thousands of acres. Two
other Nevada herd management areas will be completely zeroed out of horses,
and two others will see more than 90-percent of the mustangs taken away,
even though federal law set aside those ranges as places where horses could
roam forever.

Critics of the program say it looks as if BLM is in a
race to grab every horse it can get before the program gets shut down, which
is exactly what is needed according to a letter sent to Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar and signed by 54 members of
Congress, including Nevadans Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus.

The letter harshly criticizes the roundups, calls for
an immediate moratorium, and seeks an outside study of the science behind
the gathers, or lack thereof, by the
National Academy of Sciences.

BLM says it will cooperate with such a study, but
Director Bob Abbey told Congress he has no intention of stopping the
roundups.

“We signed the letter because we need to stop the
roundups and the slaughter so we can study the policy. It hasn’t worked and
they know it, we know it, the horses know it. We asked that they allow for a
study but they won’t stop and I worry because these studies can take years,”
said Rep. Titus.

Titus worries that by the time the study is complete,
more herd areas could be wiped out by BLM. The roundups themselves can be
deadly to horses.

“You see these pictures of them running to death and
the colts and it breaks your heart,” she said.

A separate review of the horse program is already
underway. The inspector general of the
Interior Department is actively
soliciting information from the public, including horse advocates, about all
that’s wrong with its implementation — a review that can’t be seen as good
news within BLM.

On another front, philanthropist Madeleine Pickens is
hoping to move forward with her plans to build a sprawling horse sanctuary
in northern Nevada. Pickens has already put millions of her own money into
buying a large ranch near Elko and now has an agreement to buy a second
property as well.

She will need the cooperation of BLM if she wants to
put captured mustangs on the land so she can open an eco-tourism attraction,
although BLM has said in the past it does not wants the horses to remain in
Nevada, even in a sanctuary.

Director Abbey has agreed to meet with Pickens this
month to talk about her plan but has made no promises.

Titus says she has already introduced legislation to
force BLM to use options other than roundups, such as more adoptions, birth
control, and a program to encourage ranchers to allow horses to graze on
private range. But BLM continues to use roundups as the primary focus of the
program.

Here’s a list of recent gathers:

Herd Area: # of Horses in
Area: # of Horses Removed

Moriah:
72
72

Montezuma:
139
139

Paymaster:
45
45

Reveille:
250
198

Silver King:
600
545

WildHorse News:

GLENNS FERRY, Idaho -- The fast moving Long Butte fire
near Hagerman is now 100 percent contained and fire fighting operations are
scaling down. But the trouble isn’t over
for close to 200 wild horses.

The Bureau of Land
Management did an emergency horse round up Tuesday.

This letter will add momentum to the mission to stop
the BLM, Bureau of Livestock and Mining, from their cruel horse culling and
hopefully end the violation of our trust and the betrayal to the American
Wild Horses.

In a few words,
express your thoughts and ask them to stop the cruel round ups now and put
an immediate moratorium in place.

To see just why this is urgent and very critical,
see the link to the story of the 2week old foal that was mercilessly roped
and shot by our government sponsored cruelty, paid by our tax dollars.

BLM must be stopped now. Join in the momentum to do so,
as we owe the wild horses a great debt and gratitude, not the stinking
propaganda of a rogue BLM out to deceive the nation and extinct the mustangs
in our life time. BLM has failed and not performed in the service of the
mustangs, nor the public. Do your part so our grandkids can still see a wild
horse some day.

THANK YOU.

Monika Courtney

Madeleine Pickens is
doing a Pony Express by delivering letters to Washington. She will
personally hand them. She is extending her deadline and hopes to get kids to
write on behalf of the mustangs.

Madeleine Pickens Our mailbox was
overflowing! I'm touched by all of you! I got lovely pckgs from so many of
you &the most touching letters from children on behalf of our horses! Young
voices will really make the govt take a step back & notice what needs to be
done &ASAP! For the children starting school, we are extending the Pony
Express deadline to let more letters be accepted. We had an outstanding
response &want them included!

She hopes to get more letters and anyone can send one.
All they have to say is for the government to stop rounding up the
mustangs/burros and protect them in designated wild horse areas, as mandated
by law ! We try to demonstrate that the American public cares and stories as
the one here (link below) should make everyone aware that the BLM is out of
control.

Please take some time to read up on this disturbing
story of a two-week old foal being brutally shot to death near where the
latest gather, Twin Peaks (California), by the Bureau of Land Management is
taking place. Please note the photos below are actual photos and are very
alarming.

Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens

From Madelaine Pickens:

Here's an update on the
Pony Express Campaign:We have been sent 17,351 letters!!!
You all have been fabulous in sending the letters and promoting the
campaign!!! Keep them coming. We’re in the home stretch now.
We need 20,000 by September 1st.
It takes less than a minute to click the Pony Express button and send your
letter to us. Please do this for our wild mustangs and for future
generations so that they can see these majestic creatures thriving in their
natural environment.
A Huge thanks to all the organizations that have added the Pony Express to
your websites, blogs, and E-blasts, we truly appreciate every single one of
our supporters!!

Obama Administration Accelerates Assault on Wild HorsesThree Actions You Can Take To Help!

Largest Roundup Of Wild Horses In California’s History
UnderwayAct Today To Oppose Other Planned Roundups

On August 11, 2010 the
Interior Department began the largest roundup of wild horses in California’s
history. Nearly half of the 4,000 wild horses left in the state will be
removed from their homes and families in the next few weeks. This
devastating and unnecessary roundup began despite a lawsuit filed by In
Defense of Animals (IDA) and others. We have a representative on the
ground at the roundup and will provide an update on the IDA blog later this
week.

Today we are asking you to
take three actions to help wild horses.
Congress and the Interior Department must continue to hear from you!
Together we can change this broken system if we continue to fight the
deeply-entrenched special interests which control the Interior Department’s
management of our public lands and the wild horses who live there.

1. Speak Out Against The Zeroing Out Of All Wild Horses
From The Winter Ridge Herd Area in Utah

Take action to oppose the removal of all horses at the
Winter Ridge Herd Area in Utah. This is just the latest effort of the
Interior Department to remove all wild horses from lands specifically
designated for their usage – while allowing livestock grazing to continue on
the same lands. Click
here to submit comments.

Oppose the Interior Department’s plan to remove the
majority of wild horses in Colorado’s Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management
Area. The agency will only leave 135 horses on this 190,000-acre public land
area, while allowing hundreds more livestock to graze the same public land!
Click here to submit comments.

3.Summer
Recess – Perfect Opportunity To Visit Your Senators And Representatives At
Home Through September 12.

One of the best actions you can take to help wild
horses and burros is to meet in-person with your Senators and
Representative. Ask your members of Congress to stop the mismanagement of
America’s wild horses and burros. Despite public opposition, the Interior
Department continues the unsustainable practice of rounding up, removing and
stockpiling wild horses in government holding facilities – this
ill-conceived and unnecessary practice is bankrupting the American tax payer
wasting tens of millions of tax dollars annually.

In the next eight weeks, the Interior Department plans
to remove four-thousand wild horses, using helicopters to stampede them and
removing them from their families and homes on public lands only to be
stockpiled in government-holding facilities. Congress must step in to
stop this.

Members of Congress are currently in their home
districts on recess until September 12. This is a great opportunity to let
your Senators and Representative know that you, their constituent, want them
to take action to help America’s wild horses and to end horse slaughter.

1. Request a face-to-face
meeting with both Senators and your Representative to discuss these issues
(you may need to meet with one of their aides – try to meet with their chief
of staff or lead aide on this issue);

2. Ask for specific dates
of town hall meetings or open events that constituents can attend.

“Hello, I am a constituent of ____ and I would like
to set up a meeting with him/her while he/she is home in our district to
talk about wild horse protection issues. I’m also wondering if he/she has
any town hall meetings coming up that I can let others know about.”

2. For your meeting, dress professionally, be friendly
and polite. Here are some suggestions of what you can say to begin the
meeting:

“Thank you for meeting with me. I am very concerned
about our federal wild horse management program. Public opposition to the
Interior Department’s massive wild horse roundups is growing. The roundups
are unnecessary, inhumane and wasting tens of millions of tax dollars.

For the first time, we now warehouse more wild
horses in government holding facilities (38,000+) than are left free on the
range (less than 33,000). This stockpiling of horses costs taxpayers tens of
millions of dollars annually. Even Interior Secretary Salazar acknowledges
the program is unsustainable, yet BLM roundups continue with over 12,000 to
be removed from the range this year alone. They have no solution to stop
this broken cycle.

The problem is not overpopulation. Fewer than 33,000
horses live on 26 million acres of BLM-managed public land. The problem is
inequitable distribution of resources within the small percentage of BLM
lands that are designated as wild horse and burro areas. The majority of
resources are allocated to privately-held livestock, not federally-protected
wild horses.

The BLM has demonstrated repeatedly that it is not
capable of reforming itself. It’s up to Congress to reform this broken
federal program.”

3. Ask your Senators and Congresspersons to take the
following actions:

1) Join the 56 House members who have called for a halt
to roundups by sending a sign-on letter to Secretary Salazar.

2) Ensure Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations language
that:

Suspends wild horse and burro
roundups in all but verifiable emergency situations;

Prohibits the use of any
funds to euthanize healthy horses or sell horses directly or indirectly for
slaughter;

Authorizes a National Academy
of Sciences reevaluation of Appropriate Management Levels including analysis
of resource allocation for livestock and other commercial uses;

Phases out long-term holding
and shifts BLM resources toward managing horses on the range in a humane and
minimally intrusive manner as Congress intended;

BLM conducting a bloody 2000+ mustang and burro
roundup
California doesn't have many wild horses and very few wild burros left but
that, along with a public outcry, has not stopped the Bureau of Land
Management from rounding up thousands more of California's wild equids. The
BLM, responsible for managing most of the remaining wild horses and burros
in ten Western States, are now running horses ten miles or more over rough
volcanic terrain with helicopters. Horses bleeding from their noses in the
thick dust, very young foals separated from their mothers, a mare with a
broken leg and a colicking mare have been observed by a dedicated team of
advocates observing the Twin Peaks roundup.

California has lost 16 of
the original 38 wild horse herds designated for protection in 1971 and over
2/3 of the public land tagged for wild horses and burros has been taken away
from these celebrated icons of the West. Now BLM is working fast to remove
1855 mustangs and 210 wild burros from the Twin Peaks area, just north of
Susanville, California. The roundup is scheduled to last 45-60 days and BLM
aims to leave only 450 mustangs and 72 burros on this 1250-square mile
range, larger than the state of Rhode Island. Almost all the mares returned
would be given infertility drugs and a mere 72 burros is not a genetically
viable population in this beautiful area designated principally for their
use . Over 32,000 privately-owned cattle and sheep are permitted to
graze annually on the Twin Peaks area. Revenues generated yearly from
livestock grazing fees are estimated at $120,000 while the cost of rounding
up/processing of 1,980 wild horses and burros would be 35 times the
annual grazing revenues -over $4 million. Over 38,000 wild horses
are in government holding while less than half that remain on the range and
BLM plans to complete the removal of 12,000 wild horses and burros this
fiscal year alone.California's Wild Herds Need You- What You Can Do

1. Call and email and
meet with staff of
U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (ph.
916.448.2787) and
Dianne Feinstein (ph. 415.393.0707),
Governor Schwarzenegger (ph.
916-445-2841) , and your Congressperson & state legislators too! Message: High
cost to the taxpayers; loss of our last big California wild horse herd; loss
of potential for eco-tourism in area; loss of freedom and family for the
wild horses; likely death toll at least 99 animals (.05% average deaths
according to BLM)

2. Write letters to the
editor of your local paper.

3. Tell your friends
about Twin Peaks & roundups planned across the West; visit your CA herds in
the wild and work to protect them for future generations to come.
Observation of the Twin Peaks roundup is being allowed 7 days per week-
please come and bring a reporter with you.

Sacramento, CA (August 13, 2010)—The body of a wild
horse foal was found near the site of the Twin Peaks roundup Wednesday by
Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and Cloud Foundation Board member, and
Chrystie Davis, wild horse advocate. Davis, an experienced horsewoman,
examined the foal for any broken bones. What she found was an apparent rope
burn on a rear leg as well as a gunshot wound.

“It seems as though the foal was shot in the gut,”
Davis states. “It looked as though the foal was abused, lassoed around the
hind legs and dragged.”

The foal, approximately 2 weeks old, was killed prior
to the start of the controversial Twin Peaks Herd Management Area roundup in
Northern California. When Davis told BLM officials about finding the
gunshot foal, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee, Carman Prisco, told
Davis she must be confused and the dead animal was an antelope. Photos taken
by Downer confirmed that this is indeed a wild horse foal.

Photographs taken at the capture site, set on sharp
lava rock, reveal blood stains within the trap.

Mustang advocates ask BLM law enforcement to conduct a
thorough investigation into the abuse and death of the federally protected
wild horse—killed before independent contractor, Cattoor Livestock, began
rounding up wild horses with helicopters.

Field reports from those on the ground noted a severely
injured white stallion that suffered head trauma supposedly from fighting
with other stallions in tightly packed transport vehicles. Even though the
injury was serious, the BLM contractor was quoted as saying a vet “might
need” to be called. The whereabouts of that stallion are currently unknown.
Another stallion was off loaded into a pen with eight mules that attacked
him, causing traumatic injuries. This incident was also brought to the
attention of the BLM by public observers.

Advocates were told yesterday that there were no
injuries, yet when they went to look at the horses in holding, the area was
blocked off. They were told that they could not access the area because the
“injured horses” needed to rest.

Injuries are not uncommon in roundups and underscore
the need for public access, says Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud
Foundation and EMMY Award-winning producer.

“Access is absolutely essential and is granted by the
Constitution,” says Kathrens. “The ‘acceptable’ suffering of these horses
is simply not acceptable to the caring public.”

Laura Leigh, Cloud Foundation Herd Watch coordinator,
agrees.

“If this is what we see when the BLM actually allows us
in, what happens when they black out their actions to the press and public?”
asks Leigh, plaintiff for the Tuscarora round-up that ended July 20 in
Nevada, “The time for real Congressional intervention is long overdue.”

The recent round-up in Tuscarora, Nevada—also run by
Cattoor Livestock—resulted in the deaths of thirty-six wild horses.

Simone Netherlands: Leslie
was allowed brief access to the Litchfield corrals and documented 26 babies
including very small ones in a pen with only 4 mares. They were screaming
for their mothers who were all scattered in different corrals calling back
out to them. Also one lactating mare down
with a broken leg and another colicking severely in a different pen. It is
90 degrees and we have 26 babies starving and dehydrating.

www.horsebackmagazine.com Top
right hand corner: Should President Obama order helicopter roundups of wild
horses to stop pending further study?

Just in from Garnet. This
is yesterday's NPR broadcast with Tom Gorey, George Knapp and Madeleine
Pickens. It's about 50 minutes long but well worth the listen. Gorey is
still using the over population...20% per year increase, etc. Madeleine and
George are great - locked, loaded and dead on target!

He wanted this message to get passed on to as many
people as possible...

I just talked with a legislative aide from Senator's
Landrieu's office today. I asked if they had e-mails of support would they
use them. Due to our being out of her state, the office can't respond but
would take
the e-mails of support for the wild horse program. Yet, yourself, Cloud
Foundation, Return to Freedom and other reputable blogs need to post this
message.

Today in an article (Horseback magazine) entitled,
"Plenty of Water at the Nevada roundup - and dead horses too!! Senator
Landrieu made the following comment; A firestorm of outrage has swept across
the desert sands of Nevada and the nation at what many believe is a
government agency that has turned rogue. U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, (D) La
has proposed that her colleagues consider removing the Wild Horse and Burro
Program from federal Bureau of Land Management control.
And fifty-four members of Congress have petitioned Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar to end the capture of wild horses on land controlled by the BLM.
They have asked the National Academy of Science to investigate the agency’s
Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The message;So, please take the time tonight to write
an e-mail to Senator Landrieu and support that notion...... to remove the
Wild Horse & Burro program from the BLM.Senator Mary Landrieu (D- LA) 202-224-5824,
fax 202-224-9735http://landrieu.senate.gov/about/contact.cfm
michael golembeski

August 9, 2010

DO SOMETHING WILD THIS SUMMER—SAVE THE WILD HORSES!!

Dear Humanitarian:

One of the most successful components of any grassroots
campaign is the involvement of our youth and that couldn’t be truer than
with our current efforts to protect America’s wild horses. Kids, with their
passion and honesty, are welcome and critical additions to spreading the
word. Anyone working on this issue has probably heard how massive letter
writing campaigns by children all over the U.S. helped Wild Horse Annie get
Congress to pass the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971. Many
adults fighting for wild horses today got their start at that time. We need
to reignite that passion because if we don’t act soon, the children of today
might not be able to enjoy wild horses for much longer.

To help get more young people involved, AWI has turned
its recent
“Home on the Range?” ad into a coloring
page for kids. Our goal is to get this to as many children as possible so
they can color it in and mail it to the Senators and Representative of the
Congressional district where they live and to President Obama. If kids are
particularly enthusiastic they can also send copies to Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar and to us at the Animal Welfare Institute.

Please share this eAlert with everyone you know, even
if they don’t have children (they probably know some!). We hope to get an
overwhelming number of these drawings colored and sent to as many public
officials as possible. If you are a teacher or work with children, this
would be a great class activity. Feel free to print out as many as you
need.

The Animal Welfare Institute has been working to
alleviate the suffering inflicted on animals by humans since 1951.

Please join us in our work to protect animals – visit
our website to find out more and to sign up for AWI eAlerts:www.awionline.org.

Please consider the
animals and their habitat before printing.

Release
Date: 08/06/10

Contacts:Gus Warr: 801-539-4057, Lisa
Reid: 435-743-3128

BLM Issues Decision for Conger Complex Wild Horse
Gather

Fillmore,
Utah—The Bureau of Land Management’s Fillmore Field Office
today issued a decision to remove excess wild horses from the Conger Complex
Herd Management Area (HMA) near Garrison, Utah, to protect range conditions
and wild horses. The Conger Complex HMA consists of the Conger and
Confusion Mountain HMAs.

“The current population of wild horses in the Conger
Complex is far above the number the range can handle,” said Field Office
Manager Mike Gates. “Our horses are healthy and we want them to remain
healthy. We must manage the population at appropriate levels to maintain an
ecological balance on the range.”

Beginning in Sept. 2010, the BLM plans to gather and
remove an estimated 480 wild horses for placement in the adoption program or
long-term pastures. An estimated 50 studs of the captured wild horses from
the Confusion Mountain HMA will be returned to the range to adjust the sex
ratio and slow population growth. Up to 30 of the Conger Mountain HMA wild
horses will be released (about 20 studs of the captured wild horses will be
returned to the range to adjust the sex ratio and slow population growth and
about 10 mares will be treated with fertility control and returned to the
range). This will bring the population of horses to appropriate management
levels established through the Warm Springs and House Range Resource
Management Plans.
The Confusion Mountain HMA is located in Juab and Millard Counties 30 miles
north of Garrison, Utah, and encompasses approximately 293,000 acres, with a
current population estimated at 368 wild horses (based on a Feb. 2010
population inventory). The Appropriate Management Level (AML) for the
Confusion Mountain HMA has been established at 70-115 wild horses. This
means that 250 horses will need to be removed during the gather to achieve
AML.

The Conger HMA is located in Millard County 20 miles
northeast of Garrison, Utah, and encompasses approximately 170,000 acres,
with a current population estimated at 291 wild horses (based on a Feb. 2010
population inventory). The AML for the Conger HMA has been established at
40-80 wild horses. This means that 230 horses will need to be removed
during the gather to achieve AML.

AML is determined through land-use planning efforts
that involve public participation, vegetation inventories and allocation of
forage in terms of animal unit months; the BLM determines the appropriate
number of wild horses and burros that each Herd Management Area can support
in balance with other uses of and resources on public land. Planning
efforts include an inventory and the monitoring of all uses of the public
rangelands.

“Animals removed from the HMA will be available for
adoption through the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program,” Gates said.
Those that are not adopted will be cared for in long-term pastures, where
they retain their “wild” status and protection under the 1971 Wild
Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM does not send any horses to
slaughter.

More details on the gather and opportunities for public
visitation will be available soon from the BLM. The gather and impacts are
described and analyzed in the Conger Mountain Complex Wild Horse Gather Plan
Final Environmental Assessment (EA). The EA and the Decision Record are
posted on the BLM website at www.blm.gov/ut.
The BLM also will provide updates and information at the same web address on
a regular basis throughout the course of the gather.

To learn more about the program or to obtain an
adoption application, visit the BLM National Wild Horse and Burro website atwww.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov.

Horses and burros removed
from the NWR would be put up for adoption or be sold at auction.

Washington, D.C. (August 2,
2010) - The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), along with leading Members of
Congress, numerous wild horse advocacy organizations and the majority of
Americans, is exceedingly frustrated with the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM)
gross mismanagement of America’s wild horses and burros. In a recent ad in
the Washington, DC, newspaper, The Hill, AWI called on Congress to
take swift and decisive action to prevent the BLM from “managing” our
nation’s wild horses into extinction.

“AWI has long been critical
of the BLM’s inability to responsibly manage wild horses on the range, and
the agency’s recent actions have amplified concern for the future of
America’s wild horses,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and
legal affairs for AWI. “BLM’s more aggressive campaign of rounding up and
warehousing wild horses began under the Obama administration and Secretary
of the Interior Ken Salazar. Recent reports of horses dying during roundups
due to broken necks and legs, sloughed hooves, and most recently water
intoxication (allowing the horses to drink a toxic amount of water following
a strenuous run), are unconscionable.”

Thankfully, several members
of Congress are stepping up to defend these national treasures. House
Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Subcommittee on
National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) have
led the way in holding the BLM accountable for its actions. They sponsored
the Restore our American Mustangs Act (ROAM Act), which passed the House of
Representatives by an overwhelming margin last year and have just sent a
bipartisan letter signed by 52 of their colleagues to Secretary Salazar.
The letter raises serious questions about the recent tragic deaths of
several wild horses and addresses the dire need for an independent analysis
of the wild horse and burro program by the National Academy of Sciences. As
stated in the bipartisan letter, "We are concerned by the inability of your
agency to acknowledge these disturbing outcomes, change what seems to be
deeply flawed policy, and better manage the gathers so as to prevent the
unnecessary suffering and death of these federally protected animals." AWI
shares these concerns.

Yet despite all of this
public and Congressional attention, the BLM continues to recklessly round up
and remove thousands of wild horses from their legally mandated rangeland.
In fact, Secretary Salazar has proposed spending millions of taxpayer
dollars to build additional long term holding facilities in the Midwest and
East to facilitate even more wild horse removals, which will add to the
staggering 38,000 animals already in confinement.

Ever defiant, just last
week, BLM Director Bob Abby sent a letter to all Members of Congress
decrying increased public scrutiny of the wild horse and burro program. In
this letter Director Abby wrote, “Some wild horse activists are waging a
campaign in the court of public opinion, aimed at stopping the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) from gathering wild horses and burros from
overpopulated herds on Western public rangelands.”

“The Obama administration
came into office promising greater transparency and accountability, which is
entirely contrary to the BLM’s preference to keep its abuse of wild horses
and burros behind closed doors,” contends D.J. Schubert, AWI’s wildlife
biologist. “If the BLM is convinced that its wild horse management program
is essential for the good of the horses and the land, it should provide the
public with reasonable opportunities to observe its roundups – the good,
bad, and ugly – instead of complaining when advocates expose the program’s
inherent cruelties and deficiencies,” adds Schubert.

AWI asserts that, like its
sister Department of Interior agency, the former Minerals Management Service
(MMS), the integrity of the BLM’s wild horse and burro program has been
compromised by its relationships with special interests that occupy or use
wild horse and burro range. A few thousand wild horses are being blamed for
every natural and unnatural problem facing the Western ranges, while
ranchers, oil and gas companies, and other commercial entities abuse the
public’s lands with inadequate oversight. The BLM’s obvious favoritism
toward these more politically connected and financially lucrative industries
continues to jeopardize the survival of America’s last wild horses and
burros.

“Based upon its record, it
is no wonder the BLM balks whenever the demand for genuine accountability is
discussed,” states Heyde. “While the BLM has repeatedly ignored the
public’s demands, we hope that the requests of members of Congress will not
be so easily dismissed.”

The Animal Welfare
Institute has been working to alleviate the suffering inflicted on animals
by humans since 1951.

Please join us in our work
to protect animals – visit our website to find out more and to sign up for
AWI eAlerts:www.awionline.org.

Please
consider the animals and their habitat before printing

BLM Nevada News
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
NEVADA STATE OFFICE No. 2010-037
For immediate release: Sunday, August 1, 2010
Contact: Doran Sanchez (775) 722-9796Tuscarora Gather Operations Continue
Throughout the Weekend
Reno, Nev. — The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Tuscarora gather
operations continue in the Rock Creek drainage area, where 193 excess wild
horses outside the Rock Creek Herd Management Area (HMA) have been gathered
without incident since Friday.An estimated 200 excess wild horses have been
sighted throughout this area.
These excess wild horses must be removed because they are causing
considerable impacts to rangeland resources on public and adjacent private
lands, as well as impacting habitat for the Lahontan cutthroat trout.The BLM contractor concluded operations in
the Cornucopia Mine/Ridge area on Thursday after gathering 23 excess wild
horses (12 studs, 9 mares, 2 foals) without incident or injury. The
Rock Creek drainage and Cornucopia Mine/Ridge areas are several miles
outside the HMA. The excess wild horses moved into these areas and out of
the HMA after a wildland fire in 2006.The majority of the gather has been conducted
between 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Morning temperatures range from the low 50s
to the low 80s when the animals were gathered and heat has not been an issue.
To date, the BLM has safely gathered more than 1,100 excess wild horses.
"The first part of the gather involved emergency rescue operations to more
than 600 wild horses within the Owyhee HMA that were without water” said Ken
Miller, BLM Elko District Manager. “The BLM hauled more than 46,000 gallons
of water between June 12 and June 16 to help stabilize the condition of the
horses prior to the rescue operation.”
The BLM initiated the emergency rescue gather on Friday, July 16. Emergency
gather operations concluded on Wednesday, July 21, and the BLM successfully
rescued 636 excess wild horses.
“As a result of prompt action to haul water and to provide care for these
rescued horses once we learned the wild horses in this area were suffering
from water starvation/dehydration, we were able to save the lives of most of
the gathered horses from the rescue area,” added Miller. “A large number of
the excess wild horses we gathered from the Owyhee HMA would likely have
died without the water hauling, gather operations and
subsequent care we were able to provide.”
However, 30 animals suffering from pre-existing, non-gather related
injuries, including water starvation and dehydration-related complications,
older injuries (lameness, blindness, pneumonia, etc.) or birth defects and
physical injury-related deformities have been humanly euthanized. Four wild
horses have died or were humanly euthanized as a result of gather-related
injuries.
“The remaining wild horses we have gathered are at or soon will be at one
our facilities and receive the best food, water and veterinarian care
possible,” added Miller.
The regularly scheduled part of the Tuscarora gather in the Rock Creek HMA
is expected to continue throughout the weekend. The excess wild horses
throughout this area are in much better condition than the Owyhee HMA
because lack of water is not an issue.The BLM contractor shipped 24 mares and 11
foals to the Palomino Valley Center (PVC) at 6 a.m. Saturday, July 31.
Those animals arrived at the facility in good condition and are receiving a
good diet of grass hay and water and veterinarian care if needed.The BLM also shipped 22 dry mares to PVC on
Thursday, July 29, and 23 excess wild horses (12 studs, 9 mares, 2 foals) to
PVC on Friday, July 30.
Both shipments arrived safely and without incident. The horses continue to
gain strength and rehydrate daily, and are receiving a good diet of grass
hay and water with and without electrolyte supplement.
After the animals have been dewormed, vaccinated, freeze marked and gelded
(all studs 12 month and older), they will be made available for adoption to
qualified applicants through the BLM’s Adopt-A-Wild Horse or Burro Program.
The public may visit the BLM’s website at
www.blm.gov for more information about adopting a wild horse or burro.
As more information becomes available it will be posted at the website:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office.html. For further
comments and questions, the public may call 1-866-468-7826.
-BLM-
The BLM manages more land – more than 245 million acres – than any other
Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is
primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with
a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of
sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use
mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for
the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau
accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation,
livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by
conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public
lands.
(See attached file: 37_Tuscarora Gather Operations Continue Throughout
theWeekend.doc)
JoLynn Worley, 775-861-6515
Office of Communications
BLM Nevada State Office

The Bureau of Land
Management has completed an aerial population survey of wild horses and
burros in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA) north of Susanville.
Working from a helicopter over five days last week, observers counted 2,236
wild horses and 231 wild burros in the 800,000-acre area.

“The count was an important
step in our plans to gather excess wild horses and burros, while ensuring
that we retain the appropriate management levels, or herd sizes, on the
range,” said Nancy Haug, the BLM’s northern California district manager.
“Our goal in the upcoming gather is to ensure that healthy, viable herds are
left on the range in balance with other range users.”

The BLM tentatively plans
to begin the five-week round up operation on Aug. 9.

Another aerial survey will
be conducted after the gather to ensure the appropriate management levels
(448-758 wild horses and 72-116 burros) remain in the herd management area.

Under the federal Wild and
Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the BLM is required to determine the
number of wild horses and burros that can be supported by the forage and
water resources in each herd management area. When populations exceed these
levels, excess animals are removed. They are offered for adoption by the
public, or cared for in Midwestern pastures.

The Twin Peaks Herd
Management area is the largest managed by BLM-California. Straddling the
California-Nevada border, the HMA is 55 miles long and 35 miles wide, with
lands in Lassen County, Calif. and Washoe County, Nev.

BLM Delays Tuscarora Gather Operations to
Conduct Overflight
Reno, Nev. — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has postponed daily gather
operations in the Little Humboldt and Rock Creek Herd Management Areas (HMA)
to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the HMAs to document and map the
locations of the remaining excess wild horses inside and outside the HMAs.
The gather will resume after new areas have been identified where temporary
corrals can be located nearest to the animals as possible so they may be
safely gathered. The BLM estimates
approximately 425 excess wild horses have moved outside the Rock Creek HMA,
and are causing considerable impacts to rangeland resources on public and
adjacent private lands, as well as impacting habitat for the Lahontan
cutthroat trout.A second group of
approximately 150 excess wild horses have been sighted in the Rock Creek HMA.
All the wild horses shipped to the Gunnison Prison Wild Horse Training
Facility at the Central Utah Correctional Facility and the Palomino Valley
Center near Sparks, Nev. during the past week are stable, and receiving good
feed, water and veterinarian care if needed.
During the next several months the animals will be wormed, vaccinated, and
freeze marked, and all 12 month and older studs will be gelded.
Once the wild horses have fully recovered, they will be made available for
adoption to qualified applicants through the BLM’s Adopt-A-Wild Horse or
Burro Program. The public may visit the BLM’s website at
www.blm.gov for more information
about adopting a wild horse or burro.
On Sunday, July 25, after adjusting the sex
ratio of 60 percent studs and 40 percent mares, the BLM released 24 studs
back into the Little Humboldt HMA. The BLM also applied fertility control
on 23 Little Humboldt mares, which also were released back into the HMA.
Three members of the public were present Sunday to observe the fertility
application process. The observers also had the opportunity to watch, film
and photograph the mares being released back into the Little Humboldt HMA.
As more information becomes available it will be posted at the website: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office.html.
For further comments and questions, the public may call 1-866-468-7826.

Despite the Obama
Administration's claims that it wants to encourage greater public
participation in government, this Administration is creating obstacles for
Americans to submit comments on the Wild Horse & Burro program. The
Department of Interior released its “Wild
Horse & Burro Strategy Development Document” which
outlines the Obama Administration’s direction for the program.

Instead of making it easier
for Americans to submit comments, President Obama’s Interior Secretary has
actually eliminated the public’s ability to submit comments via the
traditional e-mail and fax methods – we are forced to submit comments in one
of two ways: (1) U.S. postal service or (2)
online using a cumbersome and unreliable software
program. We have received numerous complaints that people
using this online software have had their comments deleted and lost. In
Defense of Animals submitted a complaint to the White House about this
blatant contradiction, but the White House has been nonresponsive.

Therefore, we urge you to
download and sign the letter (click here for
letter) – you can write additional comments at the bottom of the
letter and be sure to sign any local organizations you may represent. The
address to mail the letter is on the top of that letter you'll download.

Public comments must be
received by August 3, 2010 – so please be sure to print the letter, sign and
mail it today. Don’t delay – please don’t let the Interior Department’s
attempt to thwart public participation in this important comment period
succeed.

BLM Nevada NewsBUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
NEVADA STATE OFFICE No. 2010-031
For immediate release: Friday, July 23, 2010
Contact: JoLynn Worley, 775-861-6515,
jolynn_worley@blm.gov
BLM to Apply Fertility Control on Mares
Reno, Nev. — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gathered 103 wild horses in
the Rock Creek Herd Management Area (HMA) without incident or injury on
Thursday, July 22. The animals gathered included 31 studs, 58 mares and 14
foals. The Rock Creek gather will continue on Friday. The BLM will apply
fertility control on the mares gathered from the HMA. Once treated, the
mares will be released back into the HMA. The BLM also plans to adjust the
sex ratio of animals released back to the HMA to 60 percent studs and 40
percent mares.
“The positive results of applying fertility control and adjusting the sex
ratios will be to slow population growth and help us maintain population
size within appropriate management levels in the HMA,” said Ron Wenker, BLM
Nevada State Director. “These actions also will extend the time before
another gather will be required to remove excess wild horses.”
The BLM contractor conducted gather operations from 6:10 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Temperatures ranged from 61 to 82 degrees, resulting in minimal stress on
the horses from heat.
“The Rock Creek horses we gathered are in much better condition than those
in the Owyhee HMA because the lack of water is not a critical issue,” added
Wenker. “The BLM and the gather contractor will use the same care, skill
and compassion to humanely gather these animals as was used to save the
Owyhee horses.”
The BLM anticipates removing approximately 425 excess wild horses that have
moved outside the Rock Creek HMA. These animals are causing considerable
impacts to rangeland resources on public and adjacent private lands, as well
as impacts to habitat for the Lahontan cutthroat trout.
The excess wild horses will be shipped either to the Gunnison Prison Wild
Horse Training Facility at the Central Utah Correctional Facility, or to the
Palomino Valley Center near Sparks, Nev. During the next several months all
the animals will be closely monitored, provided good feed, water and
veterinarian care as needed.
The animals will be wormed, vaccinated, and freeze marked, and all 12 month
and older studs will be gelded. Once the wild horses have fully recovered,
they will be made available for adoption to qualified applicants through the
BLM’s Adopt-A-Wild Horse or Burro Program. The public may visit the
BLM’s website at
www.blm.gov
for more information about adopting a wild horse or burro.
The Tuscarora gather area encompasses the Owyhee, Rock Creek, and Little
Humboldt HMAs. The BLM concluded emergency rescue gather operation in the
Owyhee HMA on Tuesday, July 20.
As more information becomes available it will be posted at the website:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office.html . For
further comments and questions, the public may call 1-866-468-7826. -BLM-
The BLM manages more land – more than 245 million acres – than any other
Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is
primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with
a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of
sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use
mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for
the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau
accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation,
livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by
conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public
lands.
(See attached file: 7.23_BLM to Apply Fertility Control Rock Creek
Mares.doc)
JoLynn Worley, 775-861-6515
Office of Communications
BLM Nevada State Office

HOUSTON, (Horseback) –
Horseback Magazine was informed late Wednesday by activist author R.T. Fitch
that a Nevada federal judge has enjoined the federal Bureau of Land
Management from further roundups of the Tuscarora gathering of wild horses
in northwestern Elco County.

The order follow an initial
status conference on a lawsuit filed by animal welfare activist Laura Leigh
on her lawsuit against the BLM. After one day’s roundup in which more than
200 horses were stampeded by helicopter, 12 of the animals died. The agency
temporarily halted the roundup. An avalanche of bad press followed.

Washington, DC (July 13,
2010) – Philanthropist and businesswoman
Madeleine Pickens was joined today by the ASPCA, the American Wild Horse
Preservation Campaign, the Animal Welfare Institute and many other
organizations expressing their outrage over the deaths of at least seven
mustangs in a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup conducted Saturday in
the Owyhee Complex in northeastern Nevada. The wild horses died of
dehydration-related causes—including brain swelling, colic and acute water
intoxication – as a result of being stampeded by helicopters for up to eight
miles in 90+ degree desert heat.
In a sign on letter addressed to President Obama and Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar, Mrs. Pickens and the groups also harshly criticized
the agency for cracking down on public access to observe and videotape
roundup operations. The advocates released footage of a BLM representative
stating publicly that public video of a prior roundup caused the agency to
have “a really hard time trying to explain what’s happening.”
“The BLM simply does not want the American people to see what its
wrongheaded policies are doing to our mustangs,” said Mrs. Pickens. “The
horrific deaths of Owyhee horses recall the tragedy earlier this year in
Nevada’s Calico Complex, where over 100 wild horses lost their lives and
dozens of mares spontaneously aborted their late term foals in another
deadly roundup.
“We are calling on the President and Secretary Salazar to immediately
instruct the BLM to suspend all summer roundups to avoid a repeat of the
tragedy at Owyhee,” Mrs. Pickens continued. “The entire wild horse program
must be fundamentally reformed. America’s mustangs are still waiting for
change.”
Over the next four months, the BLM intends to capture and remove 6,000 wild
horse and burros from six Western states. At least half of these roundups
are scheduled to take place in desert environments in the hot summer months.
Public access to observe the roundup operations will be severely limited to
a handful of staged opportunities, with broader access given to small number
of handpicked “experts.”
The crackdown on public observation comes in the wake of public outrage and
international media coverage of the Calico roundup, which ended in
February. The controversy was fueled by release of photographs and video
showing of wild horses, including young foals, heavily pregnant mares and
older horses, being forcefully driven by helicopter out of the mountains of
Nevada and into BLM trap pens.
“The BLM’s crackdown on public observation of roundup activities is
unacceptable, and makes a mockery of President Obama’s stated commitment to
open government and transparency in government operations,” added Suzanne
Roy, Campaign Director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign,
whose grassroots efforts are endorsed by a coalition of more than 40 horse
advocacy, animal welfare, conservation and historic preservation
organizations.
Other supporters signing the letter include Mrs. Pickens’ Saving America’s
Mustangs Foundation, The Cloud Foundation, Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue,
Return to Freedom, American Wild Horse Sanctuary, and In Defense of Animals.

The BLM wild horse program
has been harshly criticized for its lack of fiscal sustainability. The
agency now stockpiles more wild horses in government holding pens and
pastures than are left on the range. The cost to taxpayers for this program
is expected to exceed $70 million next fiscal year.

Wild horses comprise a
small fraction of grazing animals on public lands, where they are
outnumbered by livestock nearly 50 to 1.

The Animal Welfare
Institute has been working to alleviate the suffering inflicted on animals
by humans since 1951.

Please join us in our work
to protect animals – visit our website to find out more and to sign up for
AWI eAlerts:www.awionline.org.

PPlease consider the animals and their
habitat before printing.

Please Please Call the White House Comment Line today at
(202) 456-1111.
The Obama Administration needs to be told—politely!—that the BLM’s
actions are underhanded and inappropriate, and that the current roundup and
others scheduled this summer must be cancelled immediately.

As you all know, despite
pleas and even a lawsuit from Laura Leigh, Project Manager of Herd Watch,
trying to prevent the scheduled Tuscarora Roundup in Elko County, Nevada,
the BLM still conducted the gather as scheduled. The gather started
Saturday, July 10th and was scheduled to remove over 1,100 wild horses from
the Elko County area. The gather started at 6:30 a.m. and by 9 a.m., the BLM
contractor had gathered 228 wild horses. This is just too many horses, too
fast, especially in the heat! Subsequently, since Saturday, we have now lost
7 horses due to dehydration and complications related to water intoxication
during the removal process and/or at the holding facilities. It has
rehashed memories of last winter’s gather in the Calico Hills, where we lost
100 innocent horses, as well as dozens of pregnant mares, in one of the
bloodiest mustang operations to date. This is unacceptable and we cannot let
this keep happening! Luckily, the BLM has issued a press release this
afternoon (7/12/10) that it is temporarily suspending the Tuscarora wild
horse gather. This has been deadliest roundup of the year.We are hoping that
with your help, we can stop this gather and others from resuming.
**Please watch CNN's Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell tomorrow, July 13th at
7pm Eastern Standard Time, as I will be on to discuss the Tuscarora Gather
over the weekend, along with the Ruby Pipeline Project that will cut into
five herd areas, and memories of the Calico Hills Deadly Roundup last
winter. We must be a voice to our horses!**

Respectfully,

Madeleine Pickens

New BLM online auction
this week. They are offering a group of older mustangs, 12-25 years,
mostly stallions, for SALE. These are the horses that are at high risk for
slaughter thanks to Sen. Conrad Burns. These are bigger, draftier style
mustangs in some fantastic colors. The horses
are located in Nevada. Does anyone have it in their heart to help
save these majestic wild creatures from the horrific fate that awaits them?

If you are having
trouble viewing the site, and use
Internet Explorer, your browser may need to be updated. On the Tools
menu, click Internet Options. On the Advanced tab, under
Security, make sure that the following check boxes are selected
- Use SSL 2.0, Use SSL 3.0, Use TLS 1.0. Click Apply, Click
OK.

Author Terri Farley will be bidding on two of the sale
authority Calico horses to place them in a sanctuary! Read her blog!

The federal Bureau of
Land management has suspended a helicopter roundup in searing Nevada desert
heat after seven horses of the 228
animals caught died showing dehydration after the chase.
Some of the horses were stampeded eight miles. For more on the story

Bloody BLM roundup
results in more than 140 deaths of federally protected animals

COLORADO SPRINGS, (Cloud) – A contract
between the $3 billion Ruby Pipeline project managers, El Paso Corp of
Colorado Springs, Colorado, and energy giant, British Petroleum, was
uncovered this week by ATS News, the investigative journalism arm of
number-one “alternative topics” web site,
AboveTopSecret.com. The contract reveals how BP stands to reap millions
of dollars from the proposed 675-mile pipeline from Wyoming to Oregon. Ruby
would destroy areas of pristine wilderness in northwestern Nevada, formerly
home to the majestic wild horses of the Calico Mountains. Ruby Project
Coordinator Lars Ecklund said during an April 16 meeting, reported on by the
Klamath Falls Herald and News: “Don’t think we’re going to put this pipe in
without making a mess . . . It’s going to look like Hiroshima. It’s going to
look nasty.”

Elko, NV (July 8, 2010)— Over 1,400
federally-protected wild mustangs are to be rounded up beginning
tomorrow, July 9, in the Tuscarora area
of Elko County Nevada during the hottest month of the year. The Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) is violating their own
set-protocol for waiting six weeks
after the main foaling season, defined as March 1-June 30, so that young
foals can escape the inherent danger of a high-heat summer roundup. BLM will
dispatch privately contracted choppers to run the Tuscarora mustangs over
miles of rugged terrain in a taxpayer-funded roundup expected to last three
weeks and result in the removal of some 1,100 mustangs. Only last month,
Oregon BLM wild horse managers postponed a
planned roundup that would have started the day after foaling
season—opting to begin instead in mid-August for the horses’ safety.

“If allowed to go forward this will be a massacre,” states Anne-Marie Pinter
who rode the Pony Express Race through the area on her Spanish Mustang and
saw small foals. “It is covered with razor-sharp, volcanic rock that will
rip up the feet of these poor foals. Before riding the area, our event
veterinarian strongly recommended that we put thick rubber boots over the
metal shoes of our horses—the rocks are that treacherous. We experienced
triple digit temperatures and had to constantly work at keeping our horses
hydrated. I can’t even imagine the toll on terrified small foals and even
the adult animals at the hottest time of the year. This amounts to horrible
animal cruelty and no one will know what is going on because BLM has closed
the area, even the roads.”

Last winter, during the deadliest BLM roundup in memory in the
Calico Mountains of Northwestern
Nevada, at least two 6-9 month foals suffered a horrible death. Their hooves
literally separated from their leg bones after running over similar terrain.
Yet, BLM justified the dead-of-winter roundup by stating in their
Environment Assessment: “Fall and
winter time-frames are much less stressful to foals than summer gathers. Not
only are young foals in summer months more prone to dehydration and
complications from heat stress, the handling, sorting and transport is a
stress to the young animals and increases the chance for them to be rejected
by their mothers. By gathering wild horses during the winter, stress
associated with summer gathers can be avoided.”

“Let’s be honest. What is driving these roundups has very little to do with
concern for vulnerable foals and everything to do with contractor
availability and using up taxpayer money before the end of fiscal year
2010,” states Cloud Foundation Director, Ginger Kathrens, who has spent over
16 years documenting the lives of wild horse families. “With only two
helicopter contractors available to round up the horses, scheduling becomes
tricky, especially when the goal is the removal of
6,000 wild horses before the end of
September. So, the rush to rid the land of mustangs trumps humane treatment.
Disgusting.”

The Cloud Foundation is asking that humane observers and the public be
allowed to document the roundup and any injuries and deaths which occur.
Currently BLM has arranged for a near total lockdown of roundup activities,
including a widespread closure of public roads around the area. Access will
be extremely limited despite promises made by top BLM officials to the
contrary.

“Having a ‘media day’ during the operation is certainly not the same as
having humane observers on site at all times during the operation,” says
Elyse Gardner, who has documented the
Pryor and Calico roundups. “A sanitized version of BLM activities is not
transparency in dealing with the public’s horses. If anything, rather than
transparency, BLM is closing the door on public observation because of what
our cameras have already revealed about these roundups.”

If allowed to proceed, the Tuscarora roundup will decimate three herds,
Owyhee, Little Humboldt and Rock Creek, living in a vast 455,000-acre area
about 90 miles northwest of Elko, Nevada. Over 4,000 cattle are allowed to
graze on the Tuscarora designated wild horse herd management area
while only 337-561 mustangs are welcome. In 1990 the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) Report underscored that wild horse removals did
not significantly improve range conditions and pointed to cattle as the
culprit for public lands damage. Despite GAO noting the lack of data
provided by BLM back 20 years ago, the public has seen no improvement in the
piecemeal management of an agency that favors welfare cattle over legally
protected mustangs and burros. Herd areas containing 10 to 30 times more
livestock than horses are the norm rather than the exception.

“Damage to livestock fences is cited as a reason to remove the horses in
Tuscarora. Give me a break,” states
Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist,
former BLM employee, and 3rd generation Nevadan. “How about
removing the fences, reducing the number of cattle and starting to manage
wild horses as principal members of their ecosystems, as well as celebrated
symbols of the American West? BLM’s habit of operating behind a veil of
enforced secrecy is completely unacceptable.”

The Cloud Foundation opposes the further manipulation of the
Tuscarora mustangs through the use of
experimental infertility drugs in combination with skewed sex ratios. The
result will be increased turmoil among the highly social wild horse family
bands. Given the disastrous management and the lack of accurate range
censuses and the presence of over 37,000 wild horses in government holding
at enormous taxpayer expense, advocates continue to call for an immediate
freeze on the costly roundups. Congressional hearings are needed to discuss
the shortcomings of an out-of-control program that threaten the future
existence of wild horses and burros on lands set aside for their use.

“BLM has responded with its classic bunker mentality, abandoning any
transparency efforts and placing at risk the lives of these small foals that
have never even had a chance at life with their families,” states Kathrens.
“We pray that BLM will show some compassion and ground the helicopters. With
all the uncontrollable disasters in the world, why is BLM determined to
create one in Tuscarora?”

Tue Jul 6, 2010 6:43 am (PDT)
FORWARDING THIS IMPORTANT EMAIL TO YOU......
Makendra works in the Cloud Foundation headquarters and is the heart and
soul of its work. Please use the EASY link below to sign a petition to stop
summer roundups of horses. A winter roundup this year killed 101 horses and
39 mares aborted their foals. These roundups could kill as many, or more,
because of summer conditions.
Please,
In right action with you,
Rob
p.s. I am starting a Silent Vigil at the Federal Bldg. in Cleveland because
the horses have no voice. Thank you for everything you do for them. rp
----- Original Message ----- From: "Makendra" <Makendra@thecloudfoundation.org>
To: "Makendra" <makendra@thecloudfoundation.org>
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 7:50 PM
Subject: Tuscarora Roundup delayed to July 9, 2010-- Stinkingwater likely
delayed to Aug. 8
Quick update: I just checked the BLM website and the Tuscarora roundup has
been rescheduled for July 9th (was originally scheduled for July 1).
Similarly, Stinkingwater in Oregon has been delayed, tentatively, until
August 8 (but I have not yet been able to verify with the Oregon office).
We desperately need a moratorium on summer roundups-- I've started a
petition/letter sender online here:
http://environment.change.org/petitions/view/stop_the_summer_roundups_of_americas_mustangs_burros
Thank you,
Makendra

Kudos to George Knapp for pulling no punches in this segment. All
the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. For those of you that haven't
been entrenched in the plight of our wild ones, the information uncovered in
this segment is an outrage and further evidence on why our government is
ignoring us and our wild ones are being removed. Please post on your sites
and cross post to your groups. There is also a forum on this topic that you
can join to add your comments.

Ask Congress To Force BLM To Allow Public Observation
Of Wild Horse Program

In the face of public and Congressional outrage over the roundup of nearly
2,000 wild horses from Nevada’s Calico Mountains region, the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) announced plans to control and minimize criticism by
further restricting public viewing of its operations to a small group of
cherry-picked organizations and individuals for limited viewing. The agency
is ramping up its capture plans, with over 5,000 more wild horses targeted
for roundup and removal over the next four months.

By its own admission, BLM’s crackdown on public observation of its roundup
activities and wild horse holding facilities is designed to control images
released on blogs,
YouTube and other social
media, thereby quashing escalating public opposition to the agency’s
handling of America’s treasured mustangs.

We can’t let the BLM get away with this. The agency ignores the wishes of
the American public by clearing wild horses off the land to make room for
cattle ranchers and gas and mining companies who want to exploit public
lands. Most of these formerly free mustangs are stockpiled in BLM holding
facilities in the Midwest, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars
annually. Now this public agency is attempting to prevent all but a
handpicked few from observing and documenting its treatment of the wild
horses who are beloved by so many Americans.

Please submit the form below today. Ask your representatives in Congress to
force the BLM to allow the public to see and document how the agency is
spending tax dollars to roundup and hold wild horses and burros. After you
submit this form, please call your senators and representatives to follow up
and ask them what action they have taken on this issue.

Please personalize the message.

Submit the form below to fax your message to your U.S. Senators and your
U.S. Representative, matched to the zip code you enter.

I am proud to announce a new you tube - first in a series - by my talented
brothers, Jim (the Creator) Gawne and voiceover maestro Gerry Gawne.
You can hear the old broadcaster pipes in him eh? It takes aim at the BLM -
to view it go to: www.wildhorsesneedyou.com

Jim created the new website where we will feature numerous you tubes and
cross posting to other wild horse and burro websites. Please post a link to
your site if you can. If you have material you want us to reference, email info@wildhorsesneedyou.com

We have a lot more in the oven but dang, it takes a long time to bake these
things. Meanwhile, the horses disappear.

We really need to get lawsuits aplenty going against the BLM. Please each of
us, research lawyers that might take on cases in each state, then let's
raise some money and strike back for the Mustangs.

It just doesn't stop.BLM to Gather Wild Horses from Moriah Herd
Area
Ely, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ely District, Schell Field
Office has issued the Decision Record for the Final Environmental
Assessment (EA) for the Moriah Herd Area Wild Horse Gather.The BLM will gather and remove approximately
72 excess wild horses from in
and around the Moriah Herd Area (HA), located about 48 miles
northeast of
Ely, beginning on or about Aug. 10, 2010.
The gathered animals will be
transported to the Delta Wild Horse and Burro Facility, in Delta, Utah,
where they will be offered for adoption to qualified individuals.Unadopted horses will be placed in
long-term pastures where they will be
humanely cared for and retain their “wild” status and protection
under the
1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM does not sell or
send any horses to slaughter.
The Moriah HA gather and impacts are described and analyzed in the EA,
which is available online at
http://www.blm.gov/nv/. Click on the Ely
District map and then click on Moriah HA gather under “In the Spotlight.”
The BLM will also provide updates and information at the same Web address
on a regular basis throughout the course of the gather.The BLM Ely District is implementing the Ely
Resource Management Plan that
was signed in August 2008. Through the planning process, a decision was
made to remove all wild horses and change the management classification
from Herd Management Area (HMA) status to Herd Area status on12 HMAs. This
was due to insufficient habitat resources to sustain healthy wild horse
populations, including forage, water, space, cover and reproductive
viability. The Moriah HA was included in this decision.For more information, contact Chris
Hanefeld, BLM Ely District public
affairs specialist, at (775) 289-1842 or
chris_hanefeld@blm.gov.
-BLM-
Chris Hanefeld, 775-289-1842
Ely District Office public affairs

BLM Nevada News
NEVADA STATE OFFICE NO. 2010-021
FOR RELEASE: June 30, 2010
CONTACT: Heather Emmons, (775) 861-6594,
heather_emmons@blm.govBLM Issues Temporary Closure on Public Lands
During Tuscarora Wild Horse Gather
Elko, Nev.—Certain areas on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) in northwestern Elko County
will be temporarily closed to public access, use and occupancy at varying
times and locations from July 6 through July 31, 2010. The temporary
closure involves about 27,000 acres and is necessary to help ensure the
safety of the public, contractors and government employees, and wild horses,
and to ensure the orderly progress of the Tuscarora wild horse gather
operations. The public will have the
opportunity to attend the gather on specifically scheduled and escorted
visitation days.

The sites identified for temporary closure
are locations the BLM has used during previous gathers in the Owyhee, Rock
Creek and Little Humboldt Herd Management Areas over the past 10
years. Some of the gather sites are on public land and some are on private
land. The temporary closure would be in effect only on public land. Not
all of the lands identified for temporary closure will be closed during the
entire period. The public will be authorized to use those areas where
gather operations are not in progress. Areas from which the public will be
temporarily excluded will be dependent upon the actual area of operation
which will be variable according to the needs of the gather contractor.
Areas temporarily closed to public access will be posted at main entry
points with signs.
Once gather operations are concluded in specific areas, those portions of
the public lands will be reopened. The temporary closure may be lifted
prior to July 31 if gather operations are completed before that date.

Helicopters will be used during the gather operation.
The BLM will remove about
1,100
excess wild horses from within the Owyhee, Rock Creek and Little Humboldt
Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and outside of these HMAs to bring the number
of wild horses in the area to the appropriate management level range of
337-561
animals.
The HMAs cover about 455,000 acres in Elko County, about 90 miles northwest
of Elko, Nev.

For more information, call David Overcast, Tuscarora Field Manager, at
775-753-0320.

Another gather announcement. FYI: Yesterday Battle Mountain announced a
recently fast tracked geothermal project, Ormat Technologies'Jersey Valley,
which is expected to be online by December. This
has no link to the gather area and I have been told that no HMA's are
involved
( township labels show the project near but not in the TOBIN Range and
Augusta Mountain HMA's)

Hey there!
Great news!
Issues on HLN (formerly 9,, headline news) is doing a full hour special on
animals
Monday July 5th @ 7pm eastern, 4pm pacific and we will
include the wild horse roundup segment we did with Madeline Pickins and your
group. Please promote it to all your members and
tell them to comment @
cnn.com/jane comments section @ bottom. Jane

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District Office, in
close coordination with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, Nevada
Department of Wildlife (NDOW), Simplot Land and Livestock and local
residents, will impound a herd of approximately 175 abandoned domestic
estray horses located within Pilot Valley north of West Wendover, Nevada.

The impoundment is scheduled to begin Friday, June 25 and is
expected to take approximately three to four days. The removal will be
conducted by an experienced BLM gather contractor.

Reno, NV (June 21, 2010)-Cindy MacDonald, research expert and American
Herds blogger has filed a request for investigation with
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this afternoon to prevent the
transport, adoption, and/or sale of non-excess Calico wild horses currently
being held in BLM processing facilities. MacDonald is requesting an
investigation into the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for attempting to
dispose of the Calico
wild horses prior to confirming that the recent removal
operations left approximately 600-900 wild horses on the range as required
by law.

From December 28, 2009 to February 7, 2010, BLM reported they removed 1922
wild horses from the Calico Complex in NW Nevada during the fatal
winter roundup.

MacDonald contends that, "the BLM may have removed far too many Calico
horses in a massive roundup last winter and failed to return, by BLM
definition, 'non-excess' horses." The BLM is required to leave at least 572
wild horses on the Calico range, the low level of their arbitrarily set
"appropriate management level" (AML). Only horses above that level can be
considered excess. Returning the horses would save at least $3 million
dollars over the next ten years alone.

Early this month, wildlife ecologist Craig
Downer carried out a flyover of the Calico Complex in a
fixed-wing aircraft. Downer was able to find only 31 wild horses but noted
350 privately-owned cattle grazing on the Herd Management Areas (HMAs).
Downer noted that "there was a reasonable spring green-up of the landscape
and the open treeless character of the terrain permitted a high degree of
horse detection". An additional ground survey by Robert Bauer resulted in
finding only 9 mustangs in Nevada's Calico Complex region.

"Two recent independent observers report the Calico herds are gone," states
MacDonald, adding "there's a vast difference between less than 50 and
600-900 wild horses. The public needs to be sure the BLM followed the law
before those horses are shipped out."

MacDonald points out that BLM is plagued with failures to properly count
free-roaming wild horses and burros even though the agency attempts to
develop new protocol to remedy these errors.

"While the BLM's numbers rarely add up, the Calico fiasco is an extreme
example of this from start to finish," states MacDonald.

Responding to public comments during last Monday's BLM
Denver workshop, the BLM announced Friday they will
partner with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an aerial census of NW
Nevada and SE Oregon. The BLM refuses to bring along The Cloud Foundation's 'Herd-Watch' project
director, Laura Leigh, on their census flights-continuing to demonstrate
their closed-door protocol. The Foundation supports transparency and wants
advocates involved in counting horses.

The BLM's policy for massive removals through roundups, followed with
stockpiling mustangs in government-contracted holding pens and mid-east
pastures is not sustainable and is costing American taxpayers some $40
million per year.

"In this day and age of government budget crises, to waste the lives of
these mustangs at a cost of millions of dollars to the American taxpayers is
unconscionable," statesGinger
Kathrens, Director of The
Cloud Foundation and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. "We
call on BLM to show an act of good faith. We ask they put an immediate
moratorium on all roundups is until we can partner together to sort this all
out."

Ask Congress To Force BLM To Allow Public Observation
Of Wild Horse Program

In the face of public and Congressional outrage over the roundup of nearly
2,000 wild horses from Nevada’s Calico Mountains region, the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) has announced plans to control and minimize criticism
by restricting the very limited public viewing of its operations to a small
group of cherry-picked organizations and individuals. The agency is ramping
up its capture plans, with over 5,000 more wild horses targeted for roundup
and removal over the next four months.

By its own admission, BLM’s crackdown on public observation of its roundup
activities and wild horse holding facilities is designed to control images
released on blogs,
YouTube and other social media, thereby quashing escalating public
opposition to the agency’s handling of America’s treasured mustangs.

We can’t let the BLM get away with this. The agency ignores the wishes of
the American public by clearing wild horses off the land to make room for
cattle ranchers and gas and mining companies who want to exploit public
lands. Most of these formerly free mustangs are stockpiled in BLM holding
facilities in the Midwest, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars
annually. Now this public agency is attempting to prevent all but a
handpicked few from observing and documenting its treatment of the wild
horses who are beloved by so many Americans.

Please submit the form at this link today.Ask your representatives in Congress to force
the BLM to allow the public to see and document how the agency is spending
tax dollars to roundup and hold wild horses and burros. After you
submit the form, please call your senators
and representatives to follow up and ask them what action they have taken on
this issue.

WildHorse News:

The BLM will be accepting
comments via snail mail, certified mail and FedEx since everyone is
having so many problems with submitting comments on the WH&B program via
their website.

This video is an interview with Bill Spriggs [the atty for the Calico
suit], Bob Abbey and indepth discussion with Neda De Mayo and Jim & Kathy
Kudma on the Soldier Meadows sanctuary proposal. There is also an article
with this for those that cannot download videos. BTW-there is a view of
Laura Allen's article on the Friedman injunction from the Animal Law
Coalition website.

For Public Information:For
Immediate Release: June 2, 2010
Contact: Jared Redington, 801-561-4632BLM
to Host Public Hearing for 2010-2011 Utah Wild Horse Gathers
Salt Lake City, Utah The BLM Utah will host a
public hearing at the West
Desert District Office to discuss the use of helicopters and motorized
vehicles in the management of wild horses and burros on Utah’s public
lands.
The hearing will be held on, June 9 at 6:30 p.m.,
at 2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City, Utah.
An annual public hearing for comments on this issue is required by federal
regulation. The Salt Lake City hearing will be the only one held this year
in Utah.
“Using helicopters and other advanced equipment is crucial in our
efficiency and maintaining safety in wild horse management,” said Jared
Redington, Salt Lake Wild Horse and Burro Facility Manager. “We have found
the use of helicopters is the most humane method in gathering horses from
the open range and remote mountain areas where they live.”
Utah’s current wild horse population is about 2,700. Drought conditionsand
increased wild horse numbers cause limited forage and water
availability, which reduces the number of animals that can be supported on
the land. BLM Utah gathers an average of 300-400 horses annually from
public lands to help control horse populations. Horse populations can
increase 15 to 25 percent every year.BLM
and its contractors plan to start gathering excess wild horses from
various herd areas across the state in August. Gather locations may change
due to available funding, water and forage conditions or wildfires.
Herd areas scheduled for wild horse population reduction include: Winter
Ridge (Unitah County), Confusion and Conger (Millard and Juab Counties),
Sulphur (IronandMillardCounties), North Hills (Iron and
Washington Counties), and Chokecherry and Mt.Elinor (Beaver and Iron
Counties).The BLM has
removed more than 14,000 wild horses and 500 burros from Utah’s rangelands
since government round-ups began in 1975. More than 6,700 of these wild
horses and burros have been adopted locally, and the remainder was sent east
for adoption. Adoptions are set for Cedar
City and Spanish Fork in August. Daily adoptions are ongoing at the Delta
Wild Horse and Burro Facility and the Salt Lake Regional Wild Horse and
Burro Center near Herriman.Monthly
adoptions are held on the first Tuesday of each month June 1 through Sept.
7, at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison.
For additional information about the upcoming public hearing contact Jared
Redington at (801) 561-4632, or the BLM Utah State Office at (801)
539-4057.
For information on future wild horse and burro adoptions, visit
www.ut.blm.gov ,
or contact the Delta Wild Horse and Burro Facility
435-864-4068, 600 N. 350 W., Delta, Utah, or the Salt Lake Wild Horse and
Burro Center 877-224-3956, 8605 W. 12600 S., Herriman, Utah.-
BLM -The
BLM manages more land -- 253 million acres -- than any other
Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands,
is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau,
with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of
sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's multiple-use
mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands
for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The
Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor
recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, energy production and
by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on
public lands.

The House has scheduled a final vote Wednesday on a bill naming the colonial
Spanish mustang as the official state horse. Other official North Carolina
...

Act Today To Oppose Roundup Of 2,000 Horses And Burros In California

Earlier this week, a
federal judge dismissed our lawsuit, on a technicality, to stop
the roundup and long-term holding of 2,000 horses from the Calico Mountain
Complex in Nevada. We are more committed than ever to continue to fight this
injustice against American wild horses and burros. Please stick with us
through this long battle – we must continue to submit public comments
against each and every roundup, and urge Congress to change the broken
system that has for decades wrongly taken freedom and family away from
innocent wild horses and burros.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently issued its formal proposal to
roundup 2,000 wild horses and burros in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area
in California. The BLM says this nearly
800,000-acre area can only have 448-758 horses and 72-116 burros; the BLM
plans to remove 1,855 wild horses and 210 burros. Thousands of you commented
earlier this year, opposing this ill-conceived plan and we must again
document our opposition. We must not give
up until wild horses and burros are protected from these horrible roundups.
Click here to submit your comments by June 18.

We're writing to you because you've already helped us put huge
pressure on governments to end the cruelty of jumps racing. As someone who
cares about horses, we thought you'd also want to know about the
thousands of wild horses in Western
Australia that desperately need our voice today.

For decades wild horses have grazed peacefully around Lake
Gregory in the Kimberley. Bred from two purebred Arab stallions taken to
Balgo Mission in the 1950's, these beautiful part Arab horses were
considered so unique and valuable that the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed
bin Rashid al Maktoum, chose 13 for his stables.

Now the 5,000 horses
at Lake Gregory have been issued a death sentence by
the WA Department of Regional Development and Land who say they are causing
'unacceptable environmental damage'. The lake that these horses graze
around is over 100 Km in circumference, and the entire area the horses
inhabit is a huge 400,000 hectares. The
Department has no issue with the 5,000 cattle grazing on the same property
remaining.

The indigenous groups that live around Lake Gregory have grown up
with these horses and love them. Despite the Department being aware that the
horses were increasing in numbers every year, they provided no assistance to
indigenous groups to introduce humane population control. Now they have
ordered that the horses be rounded up and transported 3000 Km to an abattoir
in South Australia for slaughter; their meat to be exported for human
consumption.

Local group Wild
Horses Kimberley are
calling on the government to allow them to geld the stallions and inject the mares with a fertility drug.
Despite this, the WA government is proceeding with the plan to round
up the horses for slaughter as early as next week.

Please urgently demand of Minister Brendan Grylls — the minister whose
department is responsible for the proposed cull — that the horses not become
the innocent victims of government mismanagement, and to instigate Wild Horses Kimberley’shumane
alternative proposal.

Washington, D.C. (CLOUD) - Solely on the basis of standing and mootness the
lawsuit brought against the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) by
In Defense of Animals (IDA), wildlife ecologist and Cloud Foundation
Board Member Craig Downer and author
Terri Farley was dismissed by the Honorable Judge Paul L. Friedman of
the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. on May 24th. The Cloud
Foundation continues to call for the return to the wild of the beleaguered
Calico horses now in holding pens. To date at least 90 horses have died, 40
or more mares had spontaneous late term abortions
due to stress and an unknown number of young foals have died in the
privately-owned feedlot-style pens in Fallon, Nevada where the majority of
the captured horses are held without windbreaks, shade or cover.

“The case remains that these horses need to be turned back out onto their
designated range. After the suffering they continue to endure they deserve
no less,” states
Ginger Kathrens, Director of the
Cloud Foundation. “We’re asking the public to write the President. It is
time for an executive order to be handed down to place an immediate
moratorium on roundups. The public is speaking clearly—they want their wild
horses protected on our public lands and this ruling does nothing to change
this unified appeal.”

The Cloud Foundation thanks the law firm of
Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, who worked pro-bono to stop what became a
deadly winter roundup in which nearly 2000 horses lost their freedom. Judge
Friedman’s decision did not address the merits of the argument, only the
plaintiffs’ lack of standing. Additionally, Judge Friedman ruled that the
arguments against the roundup methods were moot as the roundup/removal
operation had already taken place.

“I’m heartsick that Judge Friedman didn’t rule in favor of the Calico
horses, but it’s important to note that he dismissed the case on a
technicality, not on the merits of the case” explains co-plaintiff
Terri Farley, author of the children’s
Phantom Stallion Series. “This lawsuit shone the light of public
scrutiny on BLM’s abuse of the mustang. Those of us who had our eyes opened
will never look away.”

Photo by Makendra Silverman/The Cloud Foundation

Former Government Lawyer Now on the Bench Rules in Favor Of the BLM in
Calico Suit

May 25, 2010

By Steven Long

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – A federal judge who spent part of his career working
as a government lawyer today found in favor of a controversial Obama
Administration agency. Judge Paul L. Friedman dashed the hopes of lovers of
wild horses when he dismissed a lawsuit challenging the legality of housing
thousands of Mustangs in huge holding pens in the American West.

The suit had hoped to stop the helicopter stampede, capture, and holding as
many as 2,500 animals in Nevada’s Calico Mountains. After the capture,
almost 100 horses have died outright and 50 mares have miscarried.

The suit was filed by In Defense of Animals, naturalist Craig Downer, and
author Terri Farley.

The capture and deaths in the wake of a stampede by a roaring chopper
sparked protests from San Francisco to London as activists voiced outrage at
the alleged cruelty of the government action. They claim the federal Bureau
of Land Management has been in blatant violation of the Free Roaming Wild
Horse and Burro Act

In a preliminary ruling Friedman wrote that holding the horses in the pens
is probably illegal.

The suite was filed pro bono by the Washington law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll
& Rooney. Lead counsel William J. Spriggs said after Friedman’s ruling “The
BLM’s practice of removing horses from the western range and warehousing
them in Midwestern holding facilities is flat out illegal and the judge’s
preliminary ruling was correct.”

Friedman, a former government lawyer dismissed the suit on standing and
mootness of the lawsuit. It was brought against the BLM and the Department
of Interior. He said the arguments presented by Spriggs were moot since the
roundup had already taken place.

“We remain confident in the merits of our case and look forward to pursuing
this legal issue in the near future,” Spriggs said.

In the wake of the stampede, two foals died after losing their hooves from
being run for miles over rocky terrain to escape the roaring helicopter
leased by the government from a Utah firm that has made millions from
similar government contracts.

The roundup of 1,922 wild horses removed 80-90 percent of the Calico wild
horse population. It ended February 4, 2010.

Activists blame cattle ranchers who control the BLM for removing the horses,
animals many call a national treasure. In fact, the BLM has recently
increased cattle grazing allotments in areas where wild horses are being
removed.

Some cattle ranchers call wild horses a nuisance, calling them the
“cockroaches of the west.”

More than half of America’s wild horses are now warehoused.

Ranchers lease BLM land at the rate of $1.35 per animal per month. Wild
horse activists call that a national scandal.

Some geneticists claim there will be no wild horses left in the west in the
wake the BLM roundups claiming the agency is leaving the herds genetically
bankrupt.

Thu May 20, 2010 11:57 am (PDT)
Wild Horse and Burro Board to Hold Public Workshop
by: Edited Press Release
May 17 2010, Article # 16367
The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will conduct a public workshop and hold a regular meeting in June at a two-day event in Denver. The June 14 workshop will provide the public with an opportunity to express their views, comments, and suggestions regarding Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's wild horse initiative, which he and BLM Director Bob Abbey announced last October. The board will hold a regular meeting on wild horse management issues on June 15.
The public workshop and board meeting will take place at the Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th Street, Denver, Colo. The workshop is slated to run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (MDT), while the board meeting is set for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MDT).
On June 14, the public will be able to provide feedback and input concerning Secretary Salazar's initiative. Initiative details can be accessed at the BLM's website.
On June 15, the public may address the advisory board at an appropriate point in the agenda, which is expected to be about 3 p.m. Individuals who want to make a statement should register with the BLM by noon on the day of the meeting at the meeting site. Depending on the number of speakers, the board may limit the length of presentations, set at three minutes for previous meetings. Speakers, who should address the specific wild horse- and burro-related topics listed on the agenda, must submit a written statement of their comments, which may be sent electronically to the BLM by accessing their feedback form. Alternatively, comments may be mailed to the National Wild Horse and Burro Program, WO-260, Attention: Ramona DeLorme, 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, Nev., 89502-7147. Written comments pertaining to the advisory board meeting should be submitted no later than close of business June 7.

Wild Horse foal dies at the Broken Arrow

Visitors went to the Broken Arrow facility as they do every Sunday. Observers have been traveling to the remote privately contracted facility to document the conditions our wild horses are held in after being rounded-up by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) this past winter.

BLM Invites Public Comment at Board Meeting - But Will They Actually Let the Public Speak This Time

Photo by Elyse Gardner

Many speakers were rudely cut off at the last meeting of the Wild Horse and burro Advisory Board meeting in DC

WASHINGTON, (BLM) - The Bureau of Land Management announced today that the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will conduct a public workshop and hold a regular meeting in June at a two-day event in Denver. The workshop on Monday, June 14, will provide the public with a unique opportunity to express their views, comments, and suggestions regarding Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar�s wild horse initiative, which he and BLM Director Bob Abbey announced last October. The Board will hold a regular meeting on wild horse management issues on
Tuesday, June 15.The public workshop and the Board meeting will take place in Denver, Colorado, at the Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th St., Denver, CO 80202. The hours of the Monday workshop are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time; the Tuesday Board meeting is set for 8 a.m.to 5 p.m. local time.The hotel�s phone number for reservations is 303-607-9000. The business agendas for the public workshop and Board meeting can be found on page 26990 of the Thursday, May 13, Federal Register.
On Monday, June 14, the public will be able to provide feedback and input concerning Secretary Salazar�s initiative, the details of which can be accessed at the BLM�s website (www.blm.gov);
On Tuesday, June 15, the public may address the Advisory Board at an appropriate point in the agenda, which is expected to be about 3 p.m., local time. Individuals who want to make a statement should register with the BLM by noon on the day of the meeting at the meeting site. Depending on the number of speakers, the Board may limit the length of presentations, set at three minutes for previous meetings. Speakers, who should address the specific wild horse and burro-related topics listed on the agenda, must submit a written statement of their comments, which may be sent electronically to the BLM by accessing the following Web address. Alternatively, comments may be mailed to the National Wild Horse and Burro Program, WO-260, Attention: Ramona DeLorme,
1340 Financial Blvd., Reno, NV 89502-7147. Written comments pertaining to the Advisory Board meeting should be submitted no later than close of business June 7.
For additional information about the meeting, please contact Ramona DeLorme, Wild Horse and Burro Administrative Assistant, at 775-861-6583. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may reach Ms. DeLorme at any time by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board provides input and advice to the BLM as it carries out its responsibilities under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. This law mandates the protection, management, and control of these free-roaming animals in a manner that ensures healthy herds at levels consistent with the land�s capacity to support them. The BLM manages about 37,000 wild horses and burros that roam BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states; the agency also feeds and cares for more than 35,000 horses and burros that are maintained in short-term corrals and long-term Midwestern pastures.
The Advisory Board meets at least twice a year and the BLM Director may call additional meetings when necessary. Members serve without salary, but are reimbursed for travel and per diem expenses according to government travel regulations.
The BLM manages more land � 253 million acres � than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.

Please send your letters by May 21 on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) latest proposed mass round up — 1,000 Nevada mustangs living in the Owyee, Rock Creek and Little Humboldt HMA’s are targeted for permanent removal beginning in July 2010. See sample letter below.

In northeastern Nevada, just south of the Owyee Desert, lives a population of wild horses who are descendants of Cavalry re-mounts and 19th century ranch horses. These gray, bay, black, brown, roan and sorrel horses inhabit three BLM Herd Management Areas (HMAs), encompassing nearly 500,000 acres of Columbia Plateau and the Great Basin region lands.

Despite the fact that wild horses have thrived in the Great Basin region – approximately 70 percent of the BLM’s wild horse HMAs are located within this vast rolling plateau and high desert region – the agency continues to maintain that the area cannot sustain even moderate numbers of horses. Meanwhile tens of thousands of privately-owned livestock graze on public lands in this region.

Earlier this year, the BLM rounded up and removed nearly 2,000 wild horses living in the Calico Mountains Complex in Northwestern Nevada. Now the BLM’s Tuscarora Field Office is making plans for the mass removal of more Nevada mustangs, and the fates of 1,000 wild horses living in the Owyee, Rock Creek and Little Humboldt HMA’s are on the line.

While the agency maintains that the more than 750-square mile area encompassed by these HMAs can only support 440 wild horses, it authorizes ten times that amount of livestock — over 4,000 head — to graze the same area!

The BLM is seeking public comments on a Preliminary Environmental Assessment (EA) for this capture plan. This EA fails to seriously consider realistic alternatives for keeping these horses on the range, thus avoiding the high cost of warehousing wild horses in off-the-range holding facilities. These skyrocketing costs have rendered the BLM’s wild horse program fiscally unsustainable, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Secretary of the Interior himself.

The BLM now stockpiles more wild horses in holding facilities (36,000+) than are left in the wild (>33,000). This latest roundup continues the BLM’s unsustainable cycle of mass roundup, removal and stockpiling of America’s wild horses.

The Lakota people of Pine Ridge South Dakota continue their struggle to protect their Sacred Horses from the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council and the Parks and Recreation Department.

Since June 2009, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council and the Parks and Recreation (OSTPR) have been removing horses owned by the Lakota People of Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota without permission, without notice and without any warrant issued or receipt. Despite repeated efforts, continued obstacles have made it impossible for the Lakota People to get their horses back.
The horses were to be delivered to the St. Onge Livestock Company LTD by the OSTPR to be auctioned off on Sunday, 5/9/10 as loose horses. In A statement from Elder and Spiritual leader David Swallow, on May 7, 2010, based on the grounds of trespassing on private property, a temporary injunction was granted by the Tribal Court to stop the "Oglala Sioux Tribe "Parks and Recreation Department" from auctioning off these horses on 5/9/10 [Mothers Day]. (Further details regarding the injunction to follow early next week).
The " Mitakuyapi Sunka Wakan Oyate " is working to establish a designated fund where supporters will be able to donate funds to help return these Sacred horses to the safety and care of The People. Supporters are encouraged not to send any money at this time.
Please watch for updates as to how to help. Mitakuyapi Sunka Wakan Oyate (Relatives of the Sacred Horses)
Lakota Nation, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota
Our Horses are sacred to us and they are our relatives.
We are family and we take care of each other and help each other in times of need.
That is the Lakota way.

From: Colleen Meyer <carecmeyer@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 2:37 PM
Subject: To: carecmeyer@gmail.com
I just spoke with the GOV office, as some of you already have as well- and they are saying they don't know anything about this- I urge you to call their office and ask about it anyway- to further the phone calls and interest in this issue- they will direct you to call the Sioux tribe directly at this number: Please do that as well.
They will claim they don't know anything about it, that's fine- be polite and explain that you are
concerned what precedence this sets by killing pregnant mares on Mothers day and that it reflects
poorly on their people "or something" to that effect.
605- 867-5821
I just called the GOV office and they said its separate territory and to call the Oglala Sioux Res
FIRST EMAIL:below

Folks,

I am asking any of you that have media connections or can do some media investigation for the horses of the Pine Ridge Reservation today. This is a heartfelt plea from the Pine Ridge Reservation folks to help them stop the slaughter of their horses on MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!. MANY OF THESE HORSES ARE PREGNANT MARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are asking for help and I hope you can respond. Here is Governor Rounds contact information:

Upon hearing Tuesday, May 4th, by the House Finance Committee, the bill was sent to a summer study committee by unanimous vote. HB 1428's companion bill has been withdrawn from consideration in the Senate.

Missouri HB 1747 (Viebrock)

The language from House Bill 1747 promoting horse slaughter were secretly buried in an unrelated Senate bill (SB 795). When SB 795 was dissected in committee, the pro-horse slaughter measures were removed. SB 795 passed the Missouri State House without the provisions that were originally HB 1747.

The success in defeating the behind-the-scenes maneuver in Missouri was in very large part due to the number of calls, faxes and emails the state legislators received from all of you. You are to be congratulated for your immense effort. Thank you to all who took part.

The Work to End Horse Slaughter Continues

Along with you, we are working steadily against state level legislation promoting horse slaughter, and of course still lobbying the European Parliament to ban the import of horse meat from Canada, Mexico and Australia. We are also gathering support from key federal legislators to support a new legislative measure that will make it illegal to kill any American horse for his or her meat.

A contribution from you helping to finance this work would be extremely welcome, especially right now. Please visit this link to partner with us in ending horse cruelties and abuses, but most particularly horse slaughter, with a donation.

Washington, D.C. - Final oral arguments were presented May 6th in Federal court in the lawsuit over the Calico wild horse captures in Nevada. The Calico lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has already resulted in a preliminarily determination that the government's practice of sending wild horses to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest is illegal.

"To date, 87 horses have died during or as a result of the roundup, some under extremely cruel circumstances," said William J. Spriggs, lead counsel on the pending wild horse lawsuit against DOI and BLM. "Those deaths, and the suffering of the survivors, need never have occurred if the BLM had followed Judge Friedman's suggestion to postpone this roundup."

"A viable plan, unrelated to our lawsuit, to place the surviving horses within Calico while making range improvements to increase the Appropriate Management Levels in the Calico Complex has recently been submitted to the Secretary of Interior," concluded Spriggs. "We strongly believe that this option represents the best way to redress the BLM's violations of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act uncovered in this case."

The Calico Mountain Complex roundup of 1,922 wild horses is one of the largest roundups in recent years. The BLM removed at least 80-90 percent of the Calico wild horse population, leaving behind an "estimated" 600 horses on the 550,000 acre (or 859 square mile) Complex in northwest Nevada. The roundup ended on February 4, 2010 - 500 horses short of its target for removal. The roundup proceeded despite a ruling by Judge Friedman questioning the legality of the BLM's long-term holding facilities and suggesting that the BLM postpone the Calico roundup.

Wild horses comprise a small fraction of grazing animals on public lands, where they are outnumbered by livestock nearly 50 to 1. The BLM has recently increased cattle grazing allotments in areas where wild horses are being removed. Currently the BLM manages more than 256 million acres of public lands of which cattle grazing is allowed on 160 million acres; wild horses are only allowed on 26.6 million acres this land, which must be shared with cattle. The Obama Administration plans to remove nearly 12,000 wild horses and burros from public lands by October 2010. There are currently more than 36,000 wild horses warehoused in government holding facilities and only 33,000 wild horses free on the range.

Plaintiffs include international animal protection organization In Defense of Animals, renowned ecologist Craig Downer and popular children's author Terri Farley. A final ruling in the case is expected in late May. The lawsuit is being filed pro bono by the international law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.

Stop Removal Of All Wild Horses From Winter Range Herd Area, Utah

Please submit comments by Monday. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Utah wants to remove all wild horses from the Winter Range Herd Area, which was specifically designated as wild horse habitat in 1971 after passage of the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. By eliminating all wild horses from this area, the BLM is continuing a “zeroing out” process that has removed nearly 20 million acres of wild horse and burro habitat over four decades.

Urgent legal update: Today, our generous pro bono legal team from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney is in federal court arguing that the BLM’s practice of stockpiling wild horses in long-term holding is illegal and that the 2,000 horses recently captured from the Calico Mountains in Nevada should be returned. The judge is expected to decide soon – we will keep you informed.

Stop BLM Helicopter Roundup Of 100 Wild Burros In Arizona

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to remove 100 wild burros from their homes in the Cibola-Trigo Herd Management Area (HMA) in southwestern Arizona. They intend to chase burros with helicopters at speeds up to 10 miles per hour, for up to four miles, in temperatures that could reach 105 degrees.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rock Springs Field Office is requesting public input on a proposal to gather excess wild horses from the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas (HMA). Gathering would start on or about Oct. 1, 2010 or after the next foaling season, July 1, 2011.

Recent population surveys revealed that approximately 301 wild horses were residing within the White Mountain HMA and 142 wild horses in the Little Colorado HMA. Census data for these HMAs was collected in May 2009, and wild horse populations are exceeding the appropriate management level (AML) established for each HMA. The AML range for the White Mountain HMA is 205-300 and the AML range for the Little Colorado HMA is 69-100 wild horses.

The BLM manages wild horses and burros on public rangelands in a manner consistent with its overall multiple-use mission, taking into account all natural resources and users of the public lands. As mandated by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the BLM protects, manages and controls wild horses and burros to ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands. Through land-use planning efforts that involve public participation, the BLM determines the appropriate number of wild horses that each HMA can support.

Breeding age mares selected for release back to the range may be treated with the Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) vaccine. It is hoped that PZP, if used will slow the growth rate of the herds in these HMAs and reduce gather frequency in the future.

Comments must be received by May 7, 2010. Comments may be mailed or hand delivered to the Rock Springs Field Office at 280 Hwy 191 North, Rock Springs, WY 82901. Emailed comments must be addressed to: WhiteMountain_LittleColorado_HMA_WY@blm.gov. Electronic comments will only be accepted from the above address. Please include "White Mountain and Little Colorado HMAs Scoping Comments" in the subject line.

Elko, Nev. - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District, Tuscarora Field Office is proposing to remove about 1,000 excess wild horses in the Owyhee, Rock Creek and Little Humboldt herd management areas (HMAs) to bring the number of wild horses in the three allotments to the appropriate management level of about 440 animals. The herd management areas are in Elko County, about 90 miles northwest of Elko, Nev. The gather is expected to begin in July.

The proposal and associated impacts are described and analyzed in the Owyhee, Rock Creek and Little Humboldt Herd Management Areas Gather Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA). The BLM would appreciate receiving substantive comments on the EA by May 21, 2010. Comments received during the public review period will be analyzed and considered as part of the decision-making process.

The proposed gather is needed to achieve and maintain the established appropriate management levels (AMLs); remove any wild horses permanently residing outside areas designated for management; and reduce potential impacts to Lahontan cutthroat trout habitat within the Little Humboldt HMA. The proposed gather also would prevent further range deterioration resulting from the current overpopulation of wild horses within the areas.

The BLM proposal is to gather about 1,400 animals and remove about 1,000 excess animals. Of the remaining 400 gathered animals the BLM would conduct fertility control measures on mares and/or adjust the sex ratios of the gathered animals to be returned to the HMAs to 60 percent male/40 percent female ratios.

On the Owyhee HMA, the BLM would remove excess wild horses to the lower limit of AML, which is about 140 animals, apply fertility control to the mares to be released and/or adjust to a 60 percent male/40 percent female ratio for the horses to be released back to the HMA. Of the wild horses gathered within the Rock Creek and Little Humboldt HMAs, weanlings to four-year-old mares would be removed, fertility control would be applied to mares to be released, and any wild horses residing outside the HMA boundaries would be removed.

Questions and written comments should be mailed to Dave Overcast, Tuscarora Field Manager, Tuscarora Field Office, BLM Elko District Office, 3900 Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801, or submitted by e-mail to Tuscarora_horse_gathers@blm.gov.

Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment - including your personal identifying information - may be made publicly available.

2 Nevada men accused of killing wild mustangs

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press Writer

Posted: 04/27/2010 02:51:10 PM PDT

Updated: 04/27/2010 02:51:11 PM PDT

RENO, Nev.—Wild horse protection activists showed up at the federal courthouse in Reno to show their support for the Justice Department's prosecution of two men accused of shooting and killing five mustangs in Nevada last year.

The two men from Lovelock are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court late Tuesday on a federal charge with a penalty of up to a year in prison and $100,000 fine.

44-year-old Todd Davis and 36-year-old Joshua Keathley are accused of harassing and killing the free-roaming horses. Prosecutors say they shot them in November on U.S. rangeland near the California line about 150 miles northwest of Reno.

Makendra Silverman of the Colorado-based Cloud Foundation says several members of horse protection groups wanted to be there in person in support of the charges brought by the U.S. attorney.

From the desk of American Herds:

AMERICAN HERDSDevoted To The Preservation of Wild Horses & BurrosAmerica's Heritage SpeciesNew Post - "Calico: Past, Present & Future - II" When BLM released the first environmental assessment (EA) to remove wild horses from the Calico Complex in late October 2009, they didn't even bother to address - much less try to explain - how the wild horse population shot up 500%, increasing from 575 estimated horses still remaining after the early 2005 round up (and all released mares treated with fertility control drugs) to a whopping 3,000+ in just five years.
To read more of this post, Click Here. http://americanherds.blogspot.com/

Please take a moment to answer this one question poll on our wild ones

LAS VEGAS -- The Calico Hills wild horse roundup has been characterized by the Bureau of Land Management as a huge success. But wild horse advocates say it was a disaster, and one that grows worse every day.

The roundup ended months ago, but the horses are still paying the price -- many with their lives -- according to animal activists.

The case for the Calico wild horse roundup continues to deteriorate months after the government spent nearly $2 million to capture every mustang it could find in the rugged and remote terrain adjacent to Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

From the beginning, the BLM claimed the gather was for the good of the horses and the good of the range, but it doesn't appear either of those justifications were on the up and up.

First, there weren't nearly as many mustangs on the range as BLM predicted. The roundup of about 1,900 mustangs fell short of the target by about 700. Second, the vast majority of the horses gathered were in good shape -- not starving or emaciated.

BLM manager Gene Seidlitz said his agency was trying to avert a disaster down the road when food might be more scarce. As it turned out, the roundup itself was a disaster for the herds.

Horse advocates tried to stop the operation by arguing in court that chasing horses across miles of rocky terrain in the dead of winter was dangerous. BLM replied that it was safer than normal since snow on the rocks would cushion the damage to hoofs.

As of April 15, 2010, a total of 79 of the horses captured from Calico have died -- some as a result of injuries suffered during the capture, such as a foal which literally ran its hoofs off. The rest because they could not adjust to eating the rich hay fed to them at a new holding facility in Fallon. In addition, at least 40 mares suffered miscarriages during or after the roundup.

The total number of horses that have died is more than four times what BLM projected, ranking as one of the deadliest operations in the history of the program.

"That's unfortunate, but the percentage that died due to the gather itself is still a low percentage," said Seidlitz.

Wild horse advocates don't see it that way. They are outraged over the deaths, even more so now that an outbreak of a disease known as pigeon fever has been noticed among the horses penned up in Fallon.

Another recent development puts the Calico roundup in a different light. Horse advocates were suspicious of the reasons for the roundup, as if 2,000 horses could not live on half a million acres. The suspicions were heightened when BLM memos showed the horses were not having a major impact on the range just a year before the gather was approved, which is when BLM quadrupled the amount of cattle grazing allowed on the same range.

A massive pipeline project, the Ruby Pipeline slated for the same range, was suspected as a possible reason for the roundup. On its website, BLM states categorically that the pipeline has nothing to do with the horses. Now horse advocates have obtained documents from February 2009 which show pipeline backers intended to work with BLM to "minimize wild horses and burros along the pipeline right of way," adding that BLM horse experts were consulted about this plan.

Two weeks ago, a Washington D.C. law firm filed a suit in federal court on behalf of the group In Defense of Animal, asking that the remaining 1,800 horses being held in Fallon be returned to the open range on the grounds that warehousing the mustangs for the rest of their lives is not only costly, but illegal. We will keep you updated as that suit works its way through the courts.

I am on my way to see Calico captives this Sunday, 4/11. Finally finished new blog post, Craig Downer's moving report of one of his visits to Calico in the aftermath of the roundup, plus a few other issues.

I am bracing myself; hope I don't get too much backlash, but I kind of let it rip a bit, calling BLM on the carpet (where is that expression from? Somebody?) for its callousness and deceitful ways. I don't like to be adversarial, but sometimes a person has to call things what they are...

Trying to keep you all updated. A lot is happening. Everyone, keep telling friends and family about our beautiful wild horses. Please spread the word about the blog.

And if there are suggestions you have for me, things I can equip you better about, thinks you might want to see, if I'm too wordy (always) I welcome your remarks.

Must pack for Nevada... Love to all. Please, if you are a praying type, pray for me and other front line advocates for wisdom, courage, compassion, self control for me, whatever I can and must be to be most effective for the horses.

For the horses and their humble burro friends,

Elyse

Comments Needed to BLM:

How should the U.S. Bureau of Land Management remove the footprints of civilization from the 24,100-acre Soda Mountain Wilderness Area?

Gathering answers to that question is the goal of the BLM's 45-day public comment period that begins today, as the agency develops a plan to manage the wilderness created a year ago within the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

The Bureau of Land Management will hold two public meetings on creating a management plan for the Soda Mountain Wilderness on May 13 in Ashland.

The first will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., followed by another two-hour session beginning at 5:30 p.m. Both meetings will be held at the Bellview Grange, 1050 Tolman Creek Road, Ashland.

"We're asking the public for any kind of concerns they may have," said Howard Hunter, assistant manager of the 53,827-acre Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, which includes the wilderness.

"But the focus will be on less intrusion, less noise and less impact, on enhancing the wilderness values," he added. "The wilderness will have a higher order of protection (than the rest of the monument)."

The footprints that could be removed include old roads as well as cattle-loading chutes now inside the wilderness, he said. The goal is to have a wilderness management plan in place in about a year, he added.

As a wilderness, the area will remain open to a variety of recreational activities, including backpacking, horseback riding, hunting, fishing and camping, Mechanized travel, including the use of bicycles, is prohibited in wilderness.

Under the original 1964 Wilderness Act, wilderness designation requires an area must be preserved and protected in its natural condition, he noted.

"Wilderness is a place where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain," it stated.

BLM officials are quick to observe that private holdings surrounded by the public wilderness land are not part of the designation. As indicated in the Omnibus Public Lands Act of 2009 that created the wilderness, owner access to those private parcels must be retained, Hunter said.

The wilderness was designated by Congress on March 30, 2009. In the legislation creating the wilderness, BLM is required to have a wilderness plan in place within two years of the area's designation.

At the heart of the wilderness is 5,720-foot-high Boccard Point, where the Great Basin meets three mountain ranges: the Klamath Range from the south, the Siskiyou Range from the west and the Cascades from the north.

Created 10 years ago this coming June, the monument was established to protect what scientists say is an unusually rich biological diversity in the region.

"The designation of Soda Mountain Wilderness within the Cascade-Siskiyou National monument is going to change how some of these areas have been traditionally used," said Tim Reuwsaat, the BLM's Medford District manager.

The BLM has been working with the Oregon Department of Forestry, the agency that provides wildfire protection for the district, to write a fire protection plan for the wilderness.

Dave Willis, chair of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, which fought for roughly a quarter of a century for the wilderness' creation, said he intends to comment on the plan.

"Helping a Soda Mountain Wilderness management plan live up to the Wilderness Act is a much more pleasant chore than fighting BLM old-growth timber sales," Willis said. "The BLM is still in charge, but their usual predilection for over-management and mechanization is now legally constrained by the Wilderness Act."

The comment period ends May 24.

More information concerning the public comment process, including how to provide input, can be found at the BLM's Medford district Web site: http://tinyurl.com/ylzjcmq.

SAN RAFAEL, CA (IDA) - In Defense of ANimals's lawsuit to stop the roundup of wild horses in the Calico Mountain Complex in northwest Nevada proceeds. Last week, our generous pro bono legal team at Buchanan, Ingersoll and Rooney in Washington DC filed the final brief in the case. We continue to highlight the illegality of the government's practice of removing wild horses from the wild only to stockpile them in government holding facilities in the midwest. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for April 30 in Washington DC, and the court is expected to issue a ruling by the end of May.

The roundup of the Calico horses exemplifies what is wrong and illegal with the government's management of wild horses.

The tragedy of the Calico horses began with the helicopter stampeding of horses into traps and the separation of family members. It continues today at the holding facility which confines these wild horses in unnatural, zoo-like conditions. Of the reported 1,922 Calico horses rounded up, from December 28, 2009 to Feb 4, 2010, at least 83 have died from roundup-related problems. More than 40 heavily-pregnant mares have spontaneously aborted, and an uncounted number of foals born at the facility have died. (The BLM does not report foals born at the facility who have died.) The government officials claim this is the typical cost of a roundup and they make our point for us - it is too high a cost. It is an unnecessary cost. It is wrong and it must be stopped.

The Calico horses are kept at a newly-built, feedlot-like facility in Fallon, Nevada - approximately 200 to 300 miles from their home range. They are forced to stand and lie in their own waste. The horses are stressed from the confinement, being kept with unfamiliar horses, separated from their family members and the boredom.

Stress tends to weaken immune systems, which can increase susceptibility to health problems that could otherwise (under healthy, stress-free conditions) be warded off. The government recently revealed that a highly-contagious bacterial disease called "pigeon fever" is present at the holding facility. This bacteria, which lives and multiplies in dry soil and manure, is spread by flies and creates large, open intramuscular abscesses on the horse (the abscesses can also be internal). The government states between 50-100 horses are currently infected. This is just the latest misery to befall these innocent victims. We will continue to monitor this situation and let you know how you can help.

The Forest Service has presented a horrible proposal. It establishes dangerously low numbers for wild horses and burros AND short-cuts the public comment period. RIGHT NOW until April 5 is that brief comment period to speak up in opposition to this horrible proposal.

Submit the form at the bottom of this page to tell the Forest Service that wild horses and burros deserve their fair share of our public lands.

At the heart of the broken wild horse and burro program is the government’s systematic approach to establishing artificially low numbers for wild horses and burros allowed on public lands. Repeatedly, the government allows cattle grazing in horse territories, gives the lion’s share of range resources (i.e. forage, water, etc) to cattle, and routinely scapegoats wild horses and burros for any real or imaginary range problems.

The Forest Service is proposing that only 236 to 437 horses and burros be allowed to live in 11 wild horse and burro territories encompassing more than 730,000 acres in central Nevada. If this proposal is finalized, all horses and burros outside of that count will be subjected to roundup and removal – thus continuing the ill-conceived and unfair wild horse and burro “management” program.

Earlier this month the Forest Service proposed continuing and even introducing cattle grazing in these same wild horse and burro territories. Today, we ask for your help to convince the Forest Service that it must change course and reform its broken system of establishing artificially low wild horse and burro numbers, starting with the current proposal.

Please submit the form below to tell the Forest Service that you oppose their proposal. Public comments must be submitted by April 5, 2010. TAKE ACTION HERE

(Note from Brandi: This is from Australia.)

Please sign this and help save our wild horses...
The government are planning to cull numbers, shooting them from the sky, in most cases not killing them instantly, leaving them to suffer...
This needs to stop... Please take a few minutes to sign the petition..http://www.thepetitionsite.com/28/Stop-the-slaughter-now
Kindest Regards
Amanda Vella

Shouts of Wild and Free, Let Them Be From Protestors of Obama Administration Policy

CHICAGO, (EWA) – March 25 will be remembered by equine advocates across the United States and the United Kingdom as the day the international cries for the wild horses and burros were raised loud and clear.

Rallies held in Washington, DC, London, England, Las Vegas, NV and Los Angeles, CA culminated with a report on CNN that exposed the propaganda being fed to the public by the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The video footage of the “starving” horses was released on a prime time report and left no doubt, the rationale given for the round-ups is pure fiction.

Mariana Tosca, Actor and Social Activist, was among the advocates attending the Los Angeles rally. Ms. Tosca delivered an impassioned speech that moved the crowd to tears. Ms. Tosca commented, "It is an honor to stand united with the citizens of our global community to bring attention to this urgent matter, which being left virtually unchecked is eroding the landscape of our national heritage."

The London rally took place outside the US Embassy. In attendance were Maria Daines, Singer/Songwriter and Melita Morgan, International Actress. Melita Morgan commented on the rally, “After working hard on our Mustang Mission, I hope we are very rewarded by all of our combined efforts, that have made such a difference. All these efforts long term will open eyes, tune ears and turn heads as to the plight of these very precious horses. Just being at Grosvener Square on that day, in front of The American Embassy in the grounds amongst the statues and words of great U.S Presidents of the past, gave me such food for thought. It brought to mind the words of Dwight David Eisenhower’s first Inaugural Address on January 20, 1953 – ‘The faith we hold belongs not to us alone, but to the free of all the world.’"

Maria Daines added, “There is danger in removing the beauty of living nature from its natural surroundings. For when the last horse is rounded-up, then shall we look back and regret that we could not live and let live, not even for the sake of the generations that will come after us, who will never know what it is we lost and how careless we were to lose it.”

Despite high winds, the Las Vegas rally was a huge success. Advocate Arlene Gawne commented that 500 petition cards were signed along with great coverage from KLAS-TV8. A smaller group of advocates continued the rally on Saturday at the opening of the Clark County Shooting Center and received honks of approval from event attendees. Senator Harry Reid commented that he supported Madeleine Pickens in her efforts for a western home for the captured horses and it was terrible how the horses were being penned.

The Washington DC protest moved from Lafayette Park to the steps of the DOI building. As the rally was winding down, the mounted police arrived. One can’t help but wonder if they were sent for crowd control or came to stand in silent protest with equine advocates. Proudly standing amongst the crowd were the living examples of why advocates are calling for an end to the slaughter of domestic and wild horses. Our horses are not food animals and deserve a humane end to their lives after racing, serving, performing, working or inspiring us as we provide for all non-food animals in our country.

The majestic horses under their mounts spoke volumes of the important role horses play in our society and throughout the history of mankind.

A note from Maria Daines:

Dear all,

I was astonished this morning and very humbled to see that a young man called Drew, who has overcome so many health problems since being run over when he was a child, had been inspired by my speech for the wild horses and had recorded his own speech to add his voice to the campaign to save the beloved herds. Please take a moment to view Drew's message and if you have time, to thank him. Drew subscribed to our channel about 2 years ago and he cares very much for our voiceless friends, it has indeed inspired me to know that Drew watches our new videos and keeps in touch with what's happening in the world and does what he can to make a difference, despite his physical difficulties. I wish other people could see this and know that we all have a voice and we can express it in our own special ways. Bravo to this amazing and very brave young man.

We are returning from Washington D.C., and my blog, Humaneobserver.blogspot.com, is updated. I believe it will prove to have been a fruitful trip. For me personally, the relief and refreshment I feel in connecting with these stellar people with whom I bonded so much during Cloud's roundup was alone worth the trip.

Forgive me if I don't sound all upbeat about it; until we get a true moratorium on these hideous roundups and an assurance that Secretary Salazar's plan has been shot down, and an acceptance of a true Reserve Design plan, I will not be satisfied or even partly finished. However, one step at a time is all we can take, and I am satisfied that we suited up and showed up bigtime, and that was and is terrific.

My in-depth article and photos on the processing at Fallon is up on StableWomanGazette.com. She did a beautiful job posting it. I will be putting more photos and some video out there soon. Again, if I sound surprisingly downtrodden, here is why:

Serious News:

The Calico horses forced to live in the pens at Fallon now have Pigeon Fever. Pigeon fever is a highly contagious disease where large abscesses form, usually on the chest which puffs up pigeonlike, and need to be lanced or break on their own, a real pus mess. Abscesses can and do form also under the jaw, on sheaths, and in mammary areas. Ugh. It is usually not fatal. There is no inoculation for this, and antibiotic treatment, if given at all, is not suggested until after abscesses break. It is suggested that boots and tools be kept clean, horses be quarantined, topsoil where pus has spilled be removed... you see how unlikely it is that BLM will be able to effect the prophylactic measures suggested to avoid an epidemic outbreak.

I just learned that BLM is skipping the visitation of the horses next Sunday due to Easter, which I honor, but I will be pressing, requesting that BLM provide another day for us to see the horses. It's bad enough BLM only allows public access once a week (on a Sunday afternoon, no less), but to skip the entire week is not okay, especially in view of their current Pigeon Fever outbreak.

Below are links to articles in the S.F. Examiner. I appreciate Maureen Harmonay's passion and diligence in following the plight of the wild horses.

Our heartfelt thanks to Mary Alice Pollard (Cornwalls Voice for Animals), Maria Daines (singer & songwriter), Melita Morgan (international actress) and Jane Bravery (chief coordinator!) for their awesome work in bringing together such a successful rally on such short notice. BTW-Maria, love the hat!

Below is a report from Melita.

After working hard on our Mustang Mission, I hope we are all very rewarded by all of our combined efforts, that have made such a difference, all these efforts long term will open eyes, tune ears, turn heads as to the plight of these very precious horses.

Working on the peaceful protest on 25th of March 2010 was not only very rewarding but very mind opening and inspiring to me.

Just being at Grosvener Square on that day, in front of The American Embassy in the grounds amongst the statues and words of great U.S Presidents of the past, gave me such food for thought. My Husband David, drew my attention to the words of the great Dwight David Eisenhower ... First Inaugural Address January 20th 1953 he said "The faith we hold belongs not to us alone, but to the free of all the world"

These words on a day like the 25th when we joined hands across the world and stood united in our mission for the mustangs to draw attention to the world of their peril, struck such a deep chord with me.

Many of the thoughts of the British people who took a concerned interest on that day were also very inspiring , I was touched by just how much these wild horses mean to many of us Brits, from a wide range of comments as humorous as "the wild west without wild horses would be like the wild west without the lone ranger!", right through to touching comments like "America without its wild mustangs is like having Africa without its Lion".

I clearly saw as the day progressed Britain's do care, I was questioned myself by a dear passer by, who said why do you care so much about horses as far away as America, and I could only say the first thing that come to mind, and that was that "I care about horses, animals and people where ever they are in the world and I feel it’s very distressing that 'anything' or anyone alive can have their freedom and life ripped apart in such a cruel way as in the way these wild horses lives are being torn and uprooted from their born free natures and the way they have lived for centuries"

As a horsewomen myself, I have spent nearly 40 years with horses, and understand their spirituality very well, they are strong and willful to fight for their rights, freedom and family, along with being loyal, and hardworking for man.

In my journey to learn more about horses as I grew up, I was fascinated by all the worlds horses, such as the Arab of the Middle East, to the mountain and moorlands of Great Britain, to the Mustangs of America, they all inspired me and filled me with wonder, I so hope they will all be there for the wonder of people for centuries to come.

Man took them for his own means and used them for sport, companionship, a brave and fearless war ally, and his recreation, through the centuries the horse has been one of mans most loyal servants, for that the wild horses that live free, I believe should remain free, and not to be used and abused for the greed of man. I hope the world will continue in its 'unity' to peacefully protest at the plight and peril of one of nature’s wild wonders ...the great American wild mustangs.

Melita Morgan (26th March 2010)

P.S Some Photos coming through from my end after a very successful day!!!!

Very Rewarding day!!! my report or any words from this report may be used in any way that may be useful for the mission of these wonderful horses.

WASHINGTON - Protesters gathered in front of the White House as President Obama spoke in support of health care at a packed house at the University of Iowa today.

The protesters were met with armed guards when they reached the U.S. Department of Interior. One protester reported back to supporters of the tnd of federal Bureau of Land Management roundups.

"We congregated at Layfayette Park and there uuwas a podium with microphone and speakers," said a wp,am wjp declined to be identified. "Ginger Kathrens, RT Fitch, Nancy Perry from the Humane Society of the United States, John Holland if the Equine Welfare Alliance, Elyse Gardner, James the film producer, Rob, a BLM volunteer who is very much on our side, and Craig Downer, spoke to the crowd.

"There were about 100 people at the rally," she reported. "After the speeches, we walked to the Department of Interior with our signs and we chanted slogans like 'tell the truth' wild and free let them be, no Salazoos."

But the peaceful protesters were met with force when they reached the office of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"We were met by several armed police officers standing at the top of the steps with their guns in their holsters. More police on foot came to the DOI, a policeman on a motorcycle and then 4 mounted police officers stood in a line across the street where there is a park. I couldn't believe that they felt so threatened."

Anger and frustration wereat American horse lovers being treate like foreign terrorists were voiced by those who marched.

"It was pretty amazing and shocking that Salazar and company called out essentially the National Guard," a protester told Horseback Online. "All they needed were RPGs and Armed Personnel Carriers to complete the military style posse."

A Washington area protester was nostalgic about the DC of old and tje Department of Interior structure..

"This imposing building hides all of the secrets, deception and the selling out of our public land to special mining interest. The figures were standing by the large windows on the upper floors looking down on us and we crossed the street to the park so we could stand in front of the horses of the mounted police. Their silence was deafening despite gestures to start a conversation with them."

WASHINGTON. (Laudrieu) – U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., today joined the call for a better federal plan for the treatment of wild horses and an end to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) unnecessary wild horse roundups.

The international March for Mustangs, a public protest against the inhumane treatment of wild horses, took place today in four cities across the globe: London, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Led by celebrity activist, Wendie Malick, in Washington, D.C., the protest comes in reaction to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s attempts to persuade Congress to provide more than $42 million to move animals from the West to the East.

“I have repeatedly called for an end to these inhumane roundups until a more sufficient plan is set in place by the BLM,”said Sen. Landrieu. “There is a civilized way that we can handle these horses, by providing for their adoption or their relocation to a sanctuary. But the cruel and horrific roundups, such as the recent Calico roundup that resulted in painful injury and even death for some horses, cannot continue.”

Last year, Sen. Landrieu fought to protect wild horses by championing language in the Interior Appropriations Bill to prohibit the BLM from using taxpayer dollars for the destruction of healthy, unadopted horses and burros. At Sen. Landrieu's urging, the Senate directed BLM to develop a new comprehensive long-term plan for wild horse populations by September 30, 2010.

Sen. Landrieu also supported language that encouraged all federal agencies that use horses to acquire a wild horse from the BLM prior to seeking another supplier. In addition, Sen. Landrieu supports the BLM developing an expedited process for providing wild horses to local and state police forces.

As a result of the recent 40-day BLM Calico Roundup, at least 79 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup.

Currently, the wild horse and burro population in the United States is about 69,000, and there are 32,000 horses in short-term and long-term BLM holding facilities.

Government proposes removal of more than 1,000 horses in Wyoming,claiming 1.7 million acres can only support 1,165 horses

Please send the e-mail at this page by April 2 to submit comments to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is continuing its business-as-usual roundup of wild horses. The latest proposal is to remove more than half of the 1,950 wild horses on 1.7 million acres of Herd Management Areas in southcental Wyoming.

This is the beginning of the BLM’s process to remove wild horses in the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Herd Management Areas in Wyoming. It’s important that we submit our comments now to oppose this newest proposed assault on wild horses.

The BLM claims that the Adobe Town Herd Management Area encompassing more than 472,000 acres can only have 610 to 800 wild horses and the Salt Wells Herd Management Area comprised of nearly 1.2 million acres can only sustain 251 to 365 wild horses.

In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, Mumbai, India, and Cameroon, Africa.

In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible.

Unlicensed Vet Working Nevada Gather Where 113 Horses Have Died or Have Been Miscarried

By Steven Long

Photo by Laura Leigh

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – A government veterinarian working for the Bureau of Land Management in its Nevada office has treated horses there without a state license.

At least 113 captured horses have either died or been miscarried after a grueling chase by helicopter over rocky mountain land in the dead of winter.

Horseback Magazine confirmed late Monday in a check with the Nevada Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners that there is no record of a veterinary license for Dr. Albert Kane. Last month the magazine sought the vitae of the veterinarian but the BLM refused to supply it.

Kane is a Veterinary Medical Officer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Policy and Programs staff. In this position he serves as a staff veterinarian and advisor for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, according to spokeswoman JoLynn Worley.

“Dr. Kane doesn’t have a current bio or CV available at this time and has declined to prepare one specifically at your request,” Worley said at the time.

After the refusal to respond to the magazine’s request for Kane’s credentials, a request for that information under the Freedom of Information Act was filed. Thus far there has been no BLM compliance on the FOIA.

The 113 dead horses came from BLM’s Calico Wild Horse Management Area in Northern Nevada. The “gather” was a tightly controlled operation in which press and public was held in a viewing area far from the actual roundup and helicopter driven stampede.

Horses captured in the operation are now held in the BLM’s Fallon processing facility.

Horseback Magazine has now asked the BLM if Kane is licensed elsewhere other than in Nevada.

The Fallon facility is under tight control with press and public barred from observing horse processing in other than rare and brief media days and observation opportunities.

Opponents of the gathers have charged that the government agency is rendering America’s wild horse herds genetically bankrupt on its 260 million acres of mostly vacant land.

Last year, in a 68 page document titled “Alternative Management Options” the BLM discussed killing thousands of wild horses. It also addressed the issue of neutering horses in enormous numbers.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former rancher, has proposed that thousands of horses be sent to seven holding areas in the Midwest and East as tourist attractions. The proposal has been ridiculed by equine welfare activists as “Salazoos.”

Sun Mar 14, 2010 12:34 pm (PDT)
----- Original Message -----
From: Vicki Tobin
To: Vicki Tobin
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 12:53 PM
Subject: EWA Press Release | Outrage Over Wild Horse and Burro Removals Crosses the Pond
March 14, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Vicki Tobin
Equine Welfare Alliance
630.961.9292vicki@equinewelfarealliance.org
Mary Alice Pollard
Cornwalls Voice for Animals
0044-1 872.580.429cvfa.uk@virgin.net
Outrage Over Wild Horse and Burro Removals Crosses the Pond
CHICAGO, (EWA) - The outrage over the round-up of America's wild horses and burros has spread internationally. Groups in the United Kingdom will be holding a rally in front of the American Embassy in London on March 25. On the same day, Americans will be holding a rally across from the White House in Lafayette Park that will conclude in front of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offices.
The London Protest was organized by Jane Bravery, Mary Alice Pollard of Cornwall's Voice for Animals (CVFA), Maria Daines, singer/songwriter and board member of Saving America's Horses and international actress, Melita Morgan. The rally is cosponsored by the Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and The Cloud Foundation (TCF).
Maria Daines commented, "If we do not stand as one on issues that affect all species whose purpose is to live wild and free, we cannot expect our own species to evolve in a compassionate and considerate way towards each other. Wild horses deserve their time and place, they deserve our protection and we must exist peacefully with these glorious creatures or risk losing them forever."
Mary Alice Pollard adds, "Cornwalls Voice for Animals represents seven thousand supporters worldwide and stands united in ending wild horse round-ups and seeing the wild horses being born free and living wild and free."
The Washington DC rally and press conference is hosted by Friends of Animals and is cosponsored by EWA, TCF, and In Defense of Animals. A screening of James Kleinert's documentary, Disappointment Valley will be held the night prior to the protest. Celebrities, advocates and organization members from across the country are expected to attend the two day event.
"There is a groundswell of support for the preservation of America's Mustangs. The BLM would like the public to believe this is just a minor uprising but this is a major international movement." ~Ginger Kathrens, volunteer executive director, TCF.
The recent deadly round-up at the Calico Complex in Nevada has added to the tremendous support for a moratorium on round-ups. To date, 113 wild horses have lost their lives as a result of the round-up. At least two foals literally had their hooves run off.
"Our wild horses don't have the luxury of time to waste while we grapple with bad policy. We must not allow special interests to methodically eliminate these horses from public land or our future generations will be robbed of their natural heritage." ~Mariana Tosca, Actor and Social Activist/Animal Activist
CVFA, EWA and TCF urge the public to attend these rallies and ask that President Obama issue an immediate moratorium on round-ups and reject BLM plans to relocate wild horses to the East and Midwest until current range studies and independent population counts are available.
EWA's John Holland notes, "The United Call for a Moratorium originally sent to President Obama and the Department of Interior in November, remains unanswered."
The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.www.equinewelfarealliance.orgwww.cornwallsvoiceforanimals.org

Charges Filed in Nevada Mustang Shootings

by: Pat Raia
March 12 2010, Article # 15967

Two Nevada men face federal charges in connection with the shooting deaths of five Bureau of Land Management (BLM) mustangs at the Buckhorn Herd Management Area in November.

Agency helicopter pilots discovered the animals' carcasses during a round-up of mustangs in a remote range along the Nevada-California border.

On Wednesday federal authorities charged Todd Davis and Joshua Keathley with maliciously causing the death and harassment of free-roaming horses by shooting them.

If convicted, each faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Your response to our call to action for wild horses has been inspiring! Over 20,000 messages have been sent to U.S. Senators and Representatives over the past few weeks, all calling for reform of the BLM’s ill-conceived, inhumane and fiscally-irresponsible wild horse and burro program. Members of Congress are now echoing our concerns and calls for change.

Three Congressional hearings over the past week began the review of the Department of Interior's proposed fiscal year 2011 budget, including funding for the Wild Horse and Burro program.

We want to keep the momentum going, so please join us and advocates from across the country at the March for Mustangs - Thursday and Friday, March 25-26, in Washington DC.

Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:01 am (PST)
Permission to crosspost!
Ok guys we have the attention of a Bill O' Reilly staffer that said if we send enough emails requestiing a story on BLM and fleecing of our wild horses and tax dollars they would do a story. We need to email on why it it important to tell America the truth on this issue and what is going on with all our horses being shipped to slaughter.
Please take a minute email the show. oreilly@foxnews.com (oreilly @ foxnews.com)
Thank you.
Lisa Drahorad, Event Coordinator
Another Chance 4 Horses www.ac4h.com
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty
"Never, Never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our souls when we look the other way." Martin Luther King Jr.

March for Mustangs Invitation

Please come to Washington DC to attend the “March for Mustangs” on Thurs., March 25th, 2010.
We will gather and hold a press conference in Lafayette Park on the north side of the White House where we will be making a stand for the preservation and protection of America’s Wild Horses and Burros. Then we will all march to the Bureau of Land Management Office as we call for the freedom and protection of all that is wild.Please RSVP to: The Cloud Foundation, info@thecloudfoundation.org(info @ thecloudfoundation.org), 719-633-3842.Details

When: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 1:00-3:00pm, Press conference and speakers at 1:30pm (Filmmaker/Advocate Ginger Kathrens, Author RT Fitch and many more - including special guests to be announced)

Where: Lafayette Park (north side of Whitehouse, on H Street between 15th and 17th Streets, NW). At 3:00pm protesters will march with signs to the BLM office at 1849 'C' Street.

Plus Mustangs on the Hill II: On Friday morning, we’ll brief advocates regarding their meetings with their Senators and Representatives in regard to saving our mustangs. Please schedule an appointment with your Senators and Congressperson for Thursday morning or Friday.

Why: The Bureau of Land Management’s cruel and costly mismanagement is destroying a vital piece of the American West. The American public is standing up for our horses and burros - Please join us in a March for Mustangs, rally and protest.

Background: Roundups increased significantly in 2000 in the Bush years and they haven’t let up under the Obama administration. 12,000 wild horses and burros are scheduled for removal from our Western public lands this fiscal year alone. These cruel helicopter roundups come at enormous expense to our wild herds and to the American taxpayer.
Recently the roundup of 1900 mustangs took place in the Calico Mountains of Northwestern Nevada during the dead of winter, ending early in February when BLM realized the herds were far smaller than estimated. To date 60 horses have died due to this roundup and the death toll continues to climb daily. This does not include the 30 plus mares that have aborted their late-term foals in the feedlot-style corrals in Fallon, Nevada, where the horses are being held. Two foals had their hooves literally separate from the bone after the helicopters ran their families for miles over rocky and sharp volcanic ground.
Secretary Ken Salazar, who oversees the BLM, has decided there is no room left for our mustangs on their legally designated lands in the West and has proposed purchasing private land and shipping wild horses (gelded stallions and mares) East to the first of seven "preserves" which many people call SalaZoos. The plan as it stands only adds to the financial train wreck that the Wild Horse and Burro Program has become.
So, rather than spending over $50 million this fiscal year to remove our wild horses and burros from the range plus $42 million to buy land in the East, let’s protect them on their Western lands. The intent of Congress’ 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act was not to warehouse our mustangs but to allow them to live in freedom in self-sustaining numbers on Western rangelands designated primarily for their survival. Drastic change is needed in the management of wild horses and burros if they are to survive, as wild animals, into the future. Wild horses benefit the land as they evolved in North America and they represent our living history in the West.
Add to the millions spent for round ups is the annual loss of $123 million running a taxpayer subsidized grazing program, often referred to as “welfare ranching”. The fees charged to livestock permittees is currently the lowest allowed by law—$1.35 per cow/calf pair per month. This rate would need to be over $9.00 in order for the program to break even. If cows were removed on legally designed wild horse herd areas and horses allowed to stay, we’d save even more—including our valued mustangs. Holding the 1900 Calico horses alone in a feedlot style facility amounts to a staggering cost of over $10,000 per day!
But change is on the way for our wild horses and burros! Some 25 protests have been mounted from coast-to-coast including Chicago, LA, NYC, Denver, Las Vegas, Reno, and Sacramento since late December. Thousands of people have braved the cold and come out with their families to hold banners and signs demanding that President Obama react to the hideous mistreatment of our spectacular wild horses and respond to the incredible waste of taxpayer dollars on a broken program that only lines the pockets of powerbrokers and cattle barons. Now is the time to say enough is enough. Open the gates and return our wild horses to their rightful ranges.
Please take action for our wild herds. An immediate moratorium on all roundups is needed! This must be followed byhearings and investigations on BLM mismanagement; accurate and independent assessments of just how many wild horses we have left and the real range conditions. Then we need to develop a sustainable plan for our wild herds on our Western public lands and restore their protections set forth in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Moving our wild horses in non-reproducing, broken families to the East is not the answer.
Join us on Thursday, March 25th, for a Mustangs March on Washington and take action today to save these incredible animals who are currently being managed to extinction.
Take Action: Call President Obama 202-456-1111, Call your Senators 202-224-3121
Please visit www.thecloudfoundation.org for more information on this event.

Groups Call on Congress to reject Salazoos:

CHICAGO, (EWA) - The funding testimony for the planned sanctuaries dubbed by wild horse supporters as "Salazoos" outlined last October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, will be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Energy and Natural resources on March 3, at 10am.

The outcome of the testimony will decide if our wild horses belong on their western public lands or in "zoos" in the East and Midwest and whether the BLM will commit millions upon millions of future dollars to warehouse wild horses and burros that would otherwise live without cost to the taxpayers in their natural habitat where they have lived for centuries.

The requested funding would increase the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) budget by $42M to purchase one of the seven planned "Salazoos." The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and its over 100 member organizations, Animal Law Coalition, The Cloud Foundation and numerous Mustang advocate and welfare organizations are vehemently opposed to increased funding for the BLM for this incredible financial sinkhole.

America already has a management program in place for our wild equines. It's called the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act. It was inspired by a heroic Nevada woman, Velma Johnston, who as "Wild Horse Annie" gave these horses a sanctuary BLM has been trying to destroy ever since it was passed.

A management program for wild horses and burros on public land has yet to be proposed by the BLM or DOI that is compatible with current law. Their answer is to remove wild horses from the land, permit grazing by millions of cattle at below market rates and move our horses to a zoo like setting far from their home. In fact, the BLM was given appropriations to care for the wild horses in holding pens but has appeared to use the funding to round-up more horses. When citizens complained, they were denied access as armed guards prevented them from even viewing horses in captivity.

With no viable management plan in place, it is a disgrace and waste of critical tax payer dollars to increase funding to yet another mismanaged program. The 1971 law calls for wild horses and burros to be managed on their public lands - not in holding pens and not in zoos.

The BLM spent approximately $2M gathering a mere 2,000 animals at its Calico wildlife management area, a cost of $1,000 per horse. Once in holding, the animals will each cost the government approximately $500 per year to warehouse. Worse, the government charges ranchers only about 20 cents of every dollar that program costs taxpayers. "The Salazoo plan is yet another raid on the public funds by special interests", says EWA's John Holland.

BLM has spent more than $2 million in 2009 on a firm that stampedes wild horses with a roaring helicopter. At the Calico Nevada round-up, more than 98 have died as a result, including unborn foals and two babies who lost their hooves after a multi-mile run of terror.

The wild horses and burros represent a mere .05% of animals grazing on public lands. When the 1971 law was passed, wild horses were present on 54 million acres. Since then, over 200,000 horses have been removed along with 22 million acres of public land. Many herds have been zeroed out leaving public land available to return wild horses to their land. Congress should replace the lost acres with good grazing land for the animals BLM wants to place in its Salazoos.

The livestock grazing on public lands alone outnumber the wild horses and burros by over 200 to 1 and are subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Neither the BLM nor DOI has yet to explain how millions of privately owned livestock are sustainable or how neither agency can find room on the 262 million acres of public land it manages for less than 50,000 wild horses and burros. Neither has explained why the wild horses and burros are being blamed and removed for range degradation when the government GAO studies reflect the livestock are ruining the ranges.

The EWA and ALC call on Congress to deny additional funding and specifically defund wild horse and burro round-ups until the DOI and BLM can provide independent current range population counts, current range assessments and a viable management plan that upholds the 1971 law.

Both Sen. Mary Landrieu and Sen. Barbara Boxer have posed serious questions to the BLM on its management practices. Those questions should be answered immediately with facts, not spin.

Additional details on defunding the BLM for "Salazoos" can be found at Animal Law Coalition, article number 1188.

Thu Feb 25, 2010 9:04 am (PST)
----- Original Message -----
From: Vicki Tobin
To: Vicki Tobin
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:31 AM
Subject: Calico Death Toll | 95 (includes 35 miscarriages)
The BLM site is no longer reflecting the totals so you must read the updates. Below are the totals from a spreadsheet I've started to track the totals. I don't think we have an accurate total on miscarriages. When the gather ended on the 5th, the number thrown around was 30. I'm using that as the starting point and have added to that based on the daily updates. It should also be noted that there are several days where miscarriages are not mentioned.
Fallon Facility: 53
Round-up Site: 7
Miscarriages: 35
95
Fallon @ 02.17: 47
23-Feb: 1
22-Feb: 1
21-Feb: 1
20-Feb: 3
Miscarriages @ 02.17: 31
23-Feb: 1
18-Feb: 1
13-Feb: 1
7-Feb: 1http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html
Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses

Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:09 am (PST)
Will keep you posted as more details become available. Contact me off-list if you would like to carpool.
Robin
forwarded message:
Subject: [New post] March for Mustangs- DC Protest + Mustangs on the Hill II
March for Mustangs- DC Protest + Mustangs on the Hill II
thecloudfoundation | February 24, 2010 at 11:45 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pDfE4-zN
A Rally and Lobby Day for Mustangs and BurrosWhen: Thursday, March 25th
Time: 1:00-3:00pm, Press conference and speakers at 1:30pm (Filmmaker/Advocate Ginger Kathrens, Author RT FItch and many more- including special guests to be announced)Where: Lafayette Park (northside of Whitehouse, on H Street between 15th and 17th Streets, NW). At 3:00pm protesters will march with sign to the BLM office at 1849 'C' Street.
Plus Mustangs on the Hill II: On Friday morning we'll gather and brief people for meetings with their Represenatives in meetings to save the mustangs. Please schedule an appointment with your Representatives for Thursday morning or Friday. (Morning briefing location TBD)
Why: BLMs cruel and poor mismanagement is destroying a vital piece of the American west. The American public is sanding up for our horses and burros- please join us in a "March for Mustangs", rally and protest and schedule meetings with your Representatives for Thursday morning or Friday. Call 202-224-3121 for the Whitehouse Switchboard.
Ideas for signs will be posted soon and we'll try to set up a carpooling site for those driving to DC. Stay posted and spread the word!
forwarded by:
Robin J. Yager, Director
Network Partners for Animals*
* We do not sanction any groups' ethics or actions and offer the Network Partners Group as a networking resource tool. http://www.partnershelpinganimalscoalition-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (remove spacing)
Spring Farm CARES
3364 Route 12
Clinton, NY 13323
315-790-1404http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces)
Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so
do other creatures. ~ His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Wildhorse News:

Please Take a Minute to Help Wild Horses -

Reminder: Public Comments Needed by March 5 on Proposed Wild Horse and Burro Roundup in California

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Eagle Lake (California) Field Office is seeking public input by March 5 on the proposed roundup and removal of 1,800 wild horses and 180 burros from the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA), northeast of Susanville, Calif. The roundup is tentatively planned for August and September 2010.

In keeping with the BLM practice of setting arbitrarily determined and artificially low "appropriate management levels" for horses and burros, the BLM is claiming that this 798,000-acre public land area can only sustain 448-758 horses and 72-116 burros.

The BLM is seeking comments in advance of preparing a Preliminary Environmental Assessment (EA) on its plan to capture and remove the Twin Peaks burros and horses, some of whom are descended from Spanish stock and Cavalry remounts and include both draft and light breeds.

Read the BLM's news release announcing the public comment period here.

Now is the time to speak up for the Twin Peaks horses and keep the momentum going to stop BLM wild horse roundups! In the past two months, after receiving well over 10,000 comments in opposition, the BLM postponed two scheduled wild horse roundups in Utah's Confusion Mountains Complex and eastern Nevada's Eagle Herd Management Area. The BLM also recently removed several burro captures from its 2010 roundup schedule.

Please personalize, cut and paste the sample email below. Help save the Twin Peaks horses from the tragedy that has befallen Nevada's beautiful Calico Mountain horses, 54 of whom have died so far as a result of the roundup, which ended on February 5, 2010.

Americans are speaking out in increasing numbers for wild horses and burros, and

now is the time to keep up the pressure!

Comments are due by March 5.

A MAJOR PROTEST!!!

The White House and BLM!!!
Washington, DC

Please, mark you calendars!*** Make your reservations!
*** Organize carpools!*** Make appointments while in town!***
Bring your Signs and Banners!

I wonder, can we bring some horses???

This is preliminary info on the DC protest from Jo DeGeorge, who also organized the NYC protest.

Date: Thurs, March 25 From 3p-5p

Location: Lafayette Park (across from the White House) followed by a march to the BLM building.

Keynote speakers: (thus far) are Ginger Kathrens and RT Fitch.

Will pass on more info as it is received

Activists Publish Fact Sheet, Blast BLM

AOWHA TRUTH RALLY
BLM, FACTS OR FICTION?

WHAT BLM SAYS: In 1971, when the BLM was given legal authority to protect and manage wild horses and burros, the number of wild horses was 17,300 mustangs compared to today's on-the-range population of 33,100 wild horses.” BOB ABBEY, Director, BLM
WHAT BLM DOESN'T SAY: "The 17,000 figure is undoubtedly low to an unknown, but perhaps substantial, degree...” National Academy of Sciences Report, 1982
What BLM says: "Over the last four decades, the Bureau of Land Management has helped wild horses thrive and populations recover on the arid expanses of public lands in the West." Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar
WHAT BLM DOESN'T SAY: BLM's statistics show a steady decline in wild horse populations since the 1974 "hard count." BLM Wild Horse & Burro Removal, Adoption, Population, AML Table.
WHAT BLM SAYS: "The removal of wild horses and burros from public rangelands is carried out to ensure rangeland health, in accordance with land-use plans that are developed in an open, public process." Robert Abbey, Director, BLM
WHAT BLM (in this case) ALSO SAYS: "No public access to meetings that help establish land use plans." KIFI Channel 8 News, February 2, 2010
WHAT BLM SAYS: "The direct mortality rate resulting from helicopter-driven gathers is usually less than one percent. Some indirect mortality also occurs." BLM Wild Horse and Burro website
WHAT BLM DOESN'T SAY: "BLM data indicates that the wild horses and burros held in short term holding facilities, from 2003-2007, had a mortality rate of about 5 percent. BLM does not report this information regularly to members of the public who remain concerned that the agency does not adequately care for animals in short term holding." Governmental Accountability Office Report, 2008
WHAT BLM SAYS: "The estimated current free-roaming population exceeds by some 10,350 the number (AML) that the BLM has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses." BLM Wild Horse and Burro website
WHAT BLM DOESN'T SAY: "Although field offices use many factors to make their AML determinations, BLM has no guidance or policy about the specific factors they must consider in determining AML." Governmental Accountability Office report 2008
WHAT BLM SAYS: "Horse removals are necessary to protect public lands and public land resources." BLM Wild Horse and Burro website

WHAT BLM DOESN'T SAY: "Wild horse removals often have not been accompanied by reduction in authorized livestock grazing levels or effective range management to increase the lands' capacity. As a result, range conditions have not demonstrably improved and the number of horses removed has exceeded the capacity of the Adopt-A-Horse program. BLM could not provide us with data to demonstrate where wild horse removals have materially improved the specific areas from which they have been removed. " Government Accountability Office Report 1990
AOWHA TRUTH RALLY
WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON

1. Wild horse and burro populations have declined since 1971 when Congress declared that they were "fast disappearing from the American scene."

2. While most parties agree that horse populations need to be managed, Congress mandated that such management be carried out "at the minimal feasible level."

3. Scientific data and reports from the Government Accountability Office indicate that BLM's current rate of horse removals is producing unsustainable long-term expenses and have not "materially improved the specific areas where they were removed."

4. BLM doesn't really know what is going on with respect to wild horse populations and their impacts on range conditions due to cuts in staff that monitored and collected such data. The resulting savings of thousands of dollars could conceivably be costing taxpayers millions of dollars due to agency mistakes.

5. Reductions in educational outreach designed to promote successful horse adoptions have resulted in a decline in adoptions, increased the number of horses sent to long term holding, and produced incalculable long term costs for indefinitely holding horses in contract facilities.

6. The absence of any coherent birth control plan limits BLM's "management" options to large-scale horse removals, the most expensive of the various available strategies. Using the recent Calico Mountains roundup as an example, NO horses were provided birth control.

7. The absence of equine-based ecological management approaches in areas managed for horses contributes to the problems that BLM attempts to solve through large-scale horse removals. The GAO has determined that this strategy does not work.

KEN SALAZAR'S "EXODUS" PROPOSAL

Instead of addressing the failures associated with BLM's range management strategy, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is proposing a new boondoggle, establishing wild horse sanctuaries in the Midwest and East. He proposes to haul thousands of horses across the country when lands are available for them in the West.

Most wild horse advocates oppose Salazar's sanctuaries as they simply shift taxpayer funds from one set of contractors to another. Salazar's proposal does nothing to address fundamental problems on western ranges. The Salazar Plan is a "magic pill" that in fact is nothing more than a placebo.

Furthermore what differentiates a wild horse from a domestic horse is its environment. A horse on a managed pasture is simply a pasture horse.

There are sufficient Western resources, already owned by the American taxpayer, that can be used to mitigate the present wild horse "crisis," provided practical and relevant management strategies are adopted. Wild horses can be intelligently managed and their continued presence can be compatible with the other multiple uses of our public lands. It just isn't happening now.

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management has spent months at the epicenter of discontent as individuals and groups have been increasingly angered by the agency’s alleged mismanagement of its wild horses program. These animals populate a tiny fraction of the 260 million acres under BLM control in the West

Critics say the agency turns a tin ear to public comment serving only ranchers, mining, and hunting interests. The BLM says there is no room for a breeding horse population.
It’s policies have sparked loud protests from coast to coast.

The agency has suffered a flood of emails from around the country, and indeed the globe protesting a policy many believe is predetermined to make the wild horse extinct on lands under BLM control. Some geneticists say its standard birth control policy is being administered at breakneck speed to far too many horses creating genetic bankruptcy in herds that have already been subject to its “gathers.”

Yet the BLM has its supporters too. Horseback Magazine has received email from residents of wild horse country who describe the horses as “The cockroaches of the West.”

BLM wild horse roundups have been depicted as cruel by mainstream media in crushing investigative reports.

Often BLM’s own census numbers, including roundup death counts, don’t hold up under scrutiny.

Despite howls of protest from wild horse activists, critical media coverage, and damning videos released on You Tube, he agency has countered saying thousands of horses have been, and will be, rounded up for their own good. They claim the animals, shown fat and healthy after their capture in news footage, face starvation during the long mountain winter. Yet the annual spring thaw is just weeks away and recently captured horses appear healthy on the rare occasions press and public is allowed to briefly view them.

Critics, including Sen. Mary Landrieu, also claim the BLM has squandered its appropriation on a wild horse program that doesn’t work. They cite as an example of careless fiscal policies that despite the vastness of BLM holdings, the agency warehouses the horses it has captured on property leased from private landowners. Wild horse advocates say the horses only cost the government pennies when they roamed free in their natural habitat.

The Obama budget calls for an increase of $12 million over last year’s $64 million that depleted on the program of capturing and holding wild horses.

In memos leaked to the Associated Press last year, BLM managers discussed euthanizing thousands of captured horses. The stories sparked howls of derision and cries of anger from horse lovers everywhere..

The press and public has been largely barred from witnessing the activities of the BLM and its contractors despite a recent pledge to allow humane observers

Forty one horses have died in the recent Calico Mountain roundup, including one who died Monday. Two foals died after being stampeded for miles by a roaring helicopter. Their hooves became detached from their bodies and the two babies were euthanized.

Wildhorse Rallies in Nevada:

Las Vegas and Carson City, NV

Nevada wild horse advocates supported and accompanied by advocates from several other states plan to deliver a "one-two" punch this coming week.

The first punch is called "Mustang Outrage" and will be held in front of the Lloyd D. George courthouse in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 18th.

The second punch is called the "Truth Rally" and will be held in front of the State Legislature building in Carson City on Saturday, February 20th.

The Nevada advocates conduct "safe and sane" informative rallies and demonstrations. Everyone is welcome to attend, but please keep all activities peaceable and respect the access to streets and sidewalks by other citizens!

Thanks!

":O) Willis

It' s getting "Wild" for the Wild Horses in NV:

PLEASE EMAIL, FACEBOOK & TWITTER THIS INFORMATION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.....
PROTEST: THE MUSTANG OUTRAGE will boil over on:
WHEN? Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 1:30 PM
WHERE? Protest Speakers will first address the Press and Public on the steps of the Lloyd D George Federal Courthouse, 333 S. Las Vegas Building, Las Vegas NV (offices of Senators Ensign & Reid) and then Banners will be carried to over 40 locations across the entire city of Las Vegas so the public can see THE MUSTANG OUTRAGE!
CONTACT PERSON? ARLENE GAWNE 702-277-1313 artistfromafrica@hotmail.com
On Thursday, February 18, 2010, President Obama is expected to arrive in Las Vegas, NV just when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is asking Congress for over $60 million dollars mostly for more roundups and over $40 million to buy farms in the East to warehouse the wild horses the BLM has condemned to captivity.
In memory of Freedom, the Calico mustang that leapt a high pen wall and burst through barbed wire to freedom, we ask you to turn out in huge numbers to say:NO MORE TAX DOLLARS for horrific roundups, castration & warehousing OUR Western Heritage in the East! President Obama, we the People demand an end to BLM’s 40 years of subsidizing livestock & commercial interests on our land. GIVE WILD HORSES & BURROS THEIR FAIR SHARE OF PUBLIC LANDS. Protect them as the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse & Burro Act ordered you to do.
THE MUSTANG OUTRAGE will boil over at 1:30 PM on the northeast steps of the Federal Courthouse where one by one for maximum visual impact, 40-50 large banners will unfurl on the sidewalks of Las Vegas Boulevard!
We are asking for a minimum of 100 people to hold these big banners, 2 persons to a banner. Banner holders or their friends/family can also wear a fabric sign we will provide that reads: OBAMA: Order The BLM To Abolish Mustang Atrocities. This front piece leaves your hands free for the banner or to pass out information sheets to the public. We ask all protestors to dress in black to symbolically mourn the 39 horses that the BLM admits have already died in the Calico Roundup. Transparency is not their strong suit.
At 2 PM, Protest Speakers will make short but powerful speeches addressed to the President, beginning with the eyewitness account of the Calico Roundup by humane observer, Craig Downer. Speakers will also include Dr. Elliot M. Katz DVM and President of In Defense of Animals, Neda DeMayo, founder & CEO of Return To Freedom, an American Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc CA, Gina Greisen, President of Nevada Voters for Animals; and Arlene Gawne, wildlife artist and concerned citizen.
At 2:30 PM, the banners will be rolled up and each pair of banner holders will have one hour to drive to their assigned location across Las Vegas. Bring along any assistants, friends, family – especially your kids. Bring your folding chair and favorite snacks – have fun!
At 3:30 PM at your assigned location, you will hold your banner for 1-1/2 to 2 hours so thousands can see our message across Las Vegas: home-going traffic on major streets, convention attendees, shoppers all across the city, tourists at major casinos, travelers entering and leaving McCarran and Nellis airports, university and college students at campus entry points, all Congress members’ offices (Reid, Ensign, Berkley, Titus and Heller), tourists at Red Rock Canyon and more. In particular, there will be a special banner at the BLM office near I-95 and Craig Road where there will be a meeting on Feb.18 concerning renewable energy – and some fear BLM plans to remove wild horses to make it easier to build such facilities. We say NO to that Mr. President. We can have renewable energy and wild horses & burros on the same public land.
There will also be a special banner at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on Las Vegas Blvd. This banner will let Nevada know that the BLM is stealing our wild horse & burro legacy. And we say NO to that, Mr. President, Secretary Salazar, and Mr. Bob Abbey, head of the BLM. This banner features the beautiful wild horses that delighted Red Rock Canyon visitors until the BLM rounded them up, castrated the stallions (their unique blood line was lost forever), and shipped them to the Midwest (most horses & burros never get adopted). We would like the Red Rock horses back please. They would increase jobs if Las Vegas became the hub of Southwest eco-tours.Come out and let politicians know we are not going to take it anymore! Come from another state and express your passion for mustangs & burros – America’s Wild History. If you are local and can’t take the full afternoon off work, call Arlene Gawne and get an assigned location for 3:30-5:30pm where you can pass out handouts or just stand up for what you believe in. It is invigorating to stand up to two-faced politicians; to special energy, mining and water groups that want the horses/burros gone, and the BLM. Let the Hilton Family Trust and other corporate cowboys pay the fair market cost to raise cattle on public land, not at 1/10th the cost with current subsidized leases. America has already been brought to its knees by corporate greed and deliberate lack of political oversight. Mr. President, no more welfare cows! No more welfare industries!
Please phone or email Arlene Gawne at 702-277-1313 or artistfromafrica@hotmail.com artistfromafrica @ hotmail.com to sign up for one end of a banner. Bring a friend to hold the other end and a folding chair to sit on. If you can’t find a friend, we’ll pair you up with another volunteer. If you can’t hold a banner, pass out information sheets to the public. Just wave at people!
Some 8’x3’ banners will be commercially printed and some will be hand-painted. You are welcome to bring your own banner but please make it big and easy to read. Our banners, the Obama fabric front pieces, handouts and Mustang Protest 101 instructions will be handed out on Wednesday at a time and place to be announced. TOGETHER WE WILL SHOW THE PRESIDENT - NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL! If for some reason the President’s visit is cancelled, it doesn’t matter as long as we make MUSTANG OUTRAGE heard, loud and clear. The BLM in their Las Vegas meeting February 18, 2010 need to hear our MUSTANG OUTRAGE and stop plotting roundups. Committee members listening to Salazar’s sales pitch for our tax dollars need to know that Salazar must not get one single wild horse quarter for roundups and pens!
Maybe the President’s daughters will hear about MUSTANG OUTRAGE and ask dad why those people want to keep the mustangs and burros wild and free in the West? When he thinks about his answer maybe his conscience will kick in because he handpicked Salazar. Let us stand together on February 18, 2010 and invite the President to bring his family West to view mustang behavior with someone like Ginger Kathrens. When he experiences the thrill of wild horses running free, he must realize there is great value in keeping mustangs wild – a value greater than a field of solar panels or a hamburger. President Roosevelt will turn in his grave if he doesn’t.